Round Five

Left (Win)

ゆふかくるここちこそすれすみよしのまつのこずゑをてらす月かげ

yū kakuru kokochi koso sure sumiyoshi no matsu no kozue o terasu tsukikage

All hung with sacred streamers I feel they are— At Sumiyoshi The treetops of the pines Shining in the moonlight.

Lord Fujiwara no Shigenori
Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, Left Division
Exalted Senior Third Rank[1]
9

Right

すみよしのまつのこずゑをみわたせばこよひぞかくる月のしらゆふ

sumiyoshi no matsu no kozue o miwataseba koyoi zo kakuru tsuki no shirayū

When, at Sumiyoshi Over the treetops of the pines I pass my gaze, Hung are they, this midnight With the moon’s white sacred streamers…

Lord Fujiwara no Morikata
Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade
Without Office[2]
10

Left and Right have produced poems on the moon, both with the conception of it resembling white sacred streamers hung on the treetops of the pines, while the differences between them are charming, it does not sound as if the poem of the Right has any reason for singling out ‘this midnight’, while nothing appears lacking in the beauty of the Left’s work and thus, once more, it wins.

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[1] Shōsan’i-gyō sahyōe no kami Fujiwara ason Shigenori  正三位行左兵衛督藤原朝臣成範

[2] San’i jūshi’ige Fujiwara ason Morikata 散位従四位下藤原朝臣盛方