年に有りてひとよいもにあふひこぼしも我にまさりて思ふらんやぞ
| tosi arite Fito yoFi mo ni aFu Fikobosi mo ware ni masarite omoFuran ya zo | Within the year On but one night Meeting, is the Herd Boy, Far more than I, Filled with gloomy thoughts? |
Hitomaro
For the Poetry Match of Fifteen Love Poems at Minase.
里はあれぬをのへの宮のおのづからまちこしよひも昔なりけり
| sato wa arenu onoe no miya no onozukara machikoshi yoi mo mukashi narikeri | The estate lies in ruins— For the palace at Onoe, Naturally, Those eagerly awaited nights, too, Lie long in the past. |
The Senior Retired Emperor [Gotoba]
Round Twenty-Eight
Left
わぎもこをかたまつよひの秋風はをぎのうはばをよきてふかなん
| wagimoko o kata matsu yoi no akikaze wa ogi no uwaba o yokite fukanan | For my darling girl I wait filled with longing, tonight I would the autumn wind The cogon grass fronds Pass by in its blowing! |
Shun’e
55
Right (Win)
朝夕におつる涙や恋草のしげみにすがる露と成るらん
| asayū ni otsuru namida ya koigusa no shigemi ni sugaru tsuyu to naruran | Morn and eve My falling tears to Love’s grasses Lush do cling and Turn to dewdrops. |
Atsuyori
56
The Right poem’s use of diction and expression has nothing wrong with it and is entirely appropriate.




Round Ten
Left (Win)
よひのまぞ人をばまちしほととぎすあくるまでこそねられざりけれ
| yoi no ma zo hito oba machishi hototogisu akuru made koso nerarezarikere | All night long Did I await him once, but T’is the cuckoo: Even more until the dawn, that Keeps me from my sleep! |
Shun’e
19
Right
花はすぎ紅葉はまだき夏山にをりえてもなく時鳥かな
| hana wa sugi momiji wa madaki natsuyama ni oriete mo naku hototogisu kana | The blossoms are past, and Scarlet leaves have yet to come; In the summer mountains How lively sings The cuckoo! |
Kenshō
20
The Left’s poem certainly commands one’s interest.




Left
しぬる命いきもやすると心みに玉のをばかりあはむといはなむ
| shinuru inochi iki mo ya suru to kokoromi ni tama no o bakari awamu to iwanamu | I have died for love of you, but Might life return? Try, if only as A fragile jewelled thread, and Say that you will meet with me! |
Okikaze
176[1]
Right
あかずして別れしよひのなみだ川よどみもなくもたぎつ心か
| akazushite wakareshi yoi no namidagawa yodomi mo naku mo tagitsu kokoro ka | Still hungering for you When we parted that night, did The river of my tears Not in a trickle, but In a torrent run through my heart? |
177
[1] Kokinshū XII: 568; a minor variant of this poem also occurs in Kokin rokujō (V: 3207): しぬるいのちいきもやすると心みに玉のをばかりあひみてしかな shinuru inochi / iki mo ya suru to / kokoromi ni / tama no o bakari / aimiteshi kana ‘I have died for love of you, but / Might life return? / Try, if only as / A fragile jewelled thread, and / Make an attempt to meet me!’
Topic unknown.
あき風のふきくるよひはきりぎりす草のねごとにこゑみだれけり[1]
| akikaze no fukikuru yoi wa kirigirisu kusa no ne goto ni koe midarekeri | The autumn wind Comes gusting late at night, when The crickets From every single blade of grass Let out confused cries. |
Anonymous
[1] This poem appears in the ‘Poetry Contest held at Prince Koresada’s House’ (Koresada shinnō-ke uta’awase (42).