Left
戀死なば苔むす塚に栢古りてもとの契に朽ちやはてなん
| koi shinaba kokemusu tsuka ni kae furite moto no chigiri ni kuchi ya hatenan |
Should I have died of love and Upon my moss-hung tomb An aged cypress be Would those vows from long ago Have rotted quite away? |
Lord Sada’ie
1035
Right (Win)
かくばかり思と君も白樫に知らじな色に出でばこそあらめ
| kaku bakari omou to kimi mo shirakashi ni shiraji na iro ni ideba koso arame |
That so much I long for you, Evergreen, You know not; for what hues Might I show? |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress Household Office
1036
The Gentlemen of the Right state: ‘tomb’ (tsuka) and ‘cypress’ (kae) are frightening. The Gentlemen of the Left state: ‘evergreen’ (kashi) is the same, is it not?
In judgement: What might ‘upon my moss-hung tomb an aged cypress be’ (kokemusu tsuka ni kae furite) mean? Maybe the poet had in mind the part of the Scribe’s Records, where Duke Wen of Jin, on parting from his wife in Di, says, ‘If you wait for me for twenty-five years and I have still not returned, then marry again,’ but his wife laughs and says, ‘After ageing for twenty-five years, a cypress will be growing upon my tomb!’ The Right’s ‘evergreen’ (shirakashi) must simply serve to introduce to ‘you know not; for what hues might I show?’ (shiraji na iro ni ideba koso arame). However, both ‘cypress’ (kae) and ‘evergreen’ (kashi) lack admirable qualities. The round should tie.