Left – Dwarf bamboo[i]
たまとのみつゆのみゆるはささがにのいとををにしてぬけばなりけり
| tama to nomi tsuyu no miyuru wa sasagani no ito o o ni shite nukeba narikeri | Simply as jewels Do the dewdrops seem, when Making the tiny crab—the spider’s Web their thread, They are strung upon it… |
4
Right
(Missing)
[i] The topic of this poem is given as ‘Dew’ (Tsuyu 露) in the other text of the match, although the poem is identical. ‘Spider’ (sasgani) contains sasa (‘dwarf bamboo’)/
Round Fifteen
Left
みちしばのつゆわけきつるたびごろもしぐるるよははほしぞわづらふ
| michishiba no tsuyu wakekitsuru tabigoromo shigururu yowa wa hoshi zo wazurau | Through the roadside grasses Dew have I come forging— My traveller’s garb In a midnight shower I’d dry—what trouble ‘tis, indeed! |
Hyōenokami
79
Right (Win)
しぐれするおとにいくたびねざめしてくさのまくらにあかしかぬらむ
| shiguresuru oto ni iku tabi nezameshite kusa no makura ni akashikanuramu | The showers’ Sound, so many times Has wakened me, so On my grassy pillow It seems the dawn can never come! |
Michichika
80
The Left’s ‘roadside grasses’ have nothing remarkable about them and, what’s more, fail to link to anything. The Right has a charming conception of feeling the dawn will never come to a grassy pillow, but as in the poem ‘On a winter’s night / How many times / Have I awakened, / Deep in thought, my dwelling’s / Door-crack letting in the light?’, it is more charming to refer to the difficulty of greeting the dawn at the end of a winter’s night. This poem has the speaker being woken countless times by the sound of a shower and seems to convey the feeling of dozing on a dew-drenched pillow, doesn’t it. With that being said, the Right does appear to have some genuine emotion behind it. I would say it wins.
Round Eleven
Left (Win)
かりのいほはそそくしぐれもとまらねばつゆわけごろもほしぞかねつる
| kari no io wa sosoku shigure mo tomaraneba tsuyuwakegoromo hoshi zo kanetsuru | Upon my crude hut, Dripping, the showers, too, Never cease, so My dew-soaked garb To dry is impossible! |
Kyō
71
Right
さらぬだにたびねのとこはつゆけきにいかにせよとてうちしぐるらむ
| saranu dani tabine no toko wa tsuyukeki ni ika ni seyo tote uchishigururamu | Even ‘twere not to be, My journey-bed is Drenched with dew, so What am I to do, Beneath these falling showers? |
Suehiro
72
The Left has ‘dripping, the showers, too’, while the Right has ‘what am I to do’ and so forth—while neither of these is poor in terms of conception and diction, the initial section of the Right sounds extremely commonplace, thus the Left’s conception of agonizing over the being unable to dry dew-soaked garb is slightly superior in the current context.
Silver grass
Left (Tie)
はなすすきほにいづるをのはしらくものあさゐるとのみあやまたれけり
| hanasusuki ho ni izuru ono wa shirakumo no asa iru to nomi ayamatarekeri | Silver grass Fronds appear upon the plains For clouds of white Spreading through the morning, simply Have I mistaken them. |
Ariwara no Suetaka
15
Right
はなすすきほのくれがたのつゆけきはうきよのなかをそよとしればか
| hanasusuki ho no kuregata no tsuyukeki wa ukiyo no naka o soyo to shireba ka | The silver grass Fronds at twilight Are dew-drenched— That this cruel world Is so, I wonder if they know? |
Fujiwara no Aritoki
16
Crickets
Left
ゆふさればこゑふりたててきりぎりすつゆをさむみやよもすがらなく
| yū sareba koe furitatete kirigirisu tsuyu o samumi ya yomosugara naku | When the evening comes Louder grow the cries Of the crickets— Is it the dewdrops’ chill that Has them cry the night away? |
Yoshimine no Yukikara
3
Right (Win – Tie in a certain text)
きりぎりすあきのよぶかくおもふかなねざめてきけどこゑのたえねば
| kirigirisu aki no yobukaku omou kana nezamete kikedo koe no taeneba | Crickets Deep on autumn nights Do fill my thoughts! I awaken and listen, yet Their cries then fade away… |
Miyaji no Okifuru
4
The bodyguards of the Former Former Crown Prince composed on autumn matters and matched them.
Bush Clover
Left (Win)
つゆむすぶあきはきにけりむべこそはうちとけぬねにむしのなきけれ
| tsuyu musubu akihaginikeri mube koso wa uchitokenu ni mushi no nakikere | All tangled with dewdrops The autumn bush-clover has ta’en on scarlet hues Truly, indeed, There’s no relaxing, while The insects cry. |
Sakanoue no Kuzusuke
1
Right
のべごとにこころをやらむあきはぎのさくをりかねてちらさせじとて
| nobe goto ni kokoro o yaramu akihakgi no saku orikanete chirasaseji tote | To every single meadow Is my heart a’drawn— The autumn bush-clover Blooms and I cannot pluck it, Thinking not to make it scatter… |
Tomo no Toshizane
2
Gazing at the chrysanthemums in my garden on a rainy night.
露をおもみ籬のきくのほしもあへずはるればくもる村雨の空
| tsuyu o omomi magaki no kiku no hoshi mo aezu harureba kumoru murasame no sora | Weighed down with dew, The chrysanthemums by my lattice fence Never get a chance to dry, for Clearing skies are clouded by A cloudburst from above. |
