The wisdom of crowds in translation.  Take Basho's 
natsukusa ya / tsuwamonodomo no / yume no ato
Ueda:
Summer grasses 
where stalwart soldiers 
once dreamed a dream.
 Page:  
Old battle-field, 
fresh with spring flowers again, 
all that is left of the dream 
Chamberlain:
Haply the summer grasses 
are a relic of the warriors' dream.
Miyamori:
Ah! summer grasses wave! 
The warriors' brave deeds 
were a dream!
Nitobe:  
The summer grass! 
'Tis all that's left 
of ancient warriors' dreams.
Yuasa:
	A thicket of summer grass
 Is all that remains 
Of the dreams and ambitions 
Of ancient warriors.
Corman/Kamaike:
	summer grass
warriors 
 dreams' ruins
Miner:
	The summer grasses :
 The high bravery of men-at-arms,
The vestiges of dream.
Britton:
	A mound of summer grass: 
 Are warriors' heroic deeds 
Only dreams that pass?
McCullough:
	A dream of warriors 
 after dreaming is done , 
the summer grasses.
Sato:
	Summer grass: where the warriors used to dream
Henderson:  
Summer grass:                                                  
of stalwart warriors' splendid dream                
the aftermath
Hamill: 
	Summer grasses:
all that remains of great soldiers'
imperial dreams
Rexroth:  
Summer Grass 
where warriors dream. 
We might prefer  or despise a particular version, but the best version is probably the sum total or average of all these.  The more you have, the better.  Any eccentricity  or redundancy  simply drops away.   You don't need a mound of grass or a thicket of grass, just plain old natsugusa is fine.   
I like the Corman/Kamaike version the most. I wonder what this says about my taste in poetry.
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