In the spring of Kenryaku 2 [1212] when there had been a match of Cathay-style poetry at the palace, he composed this on the topic of ‘a spring dawn at a dwelling in the mountains’.
月かげのこずゑにのこる山のはに花もかすめるはるのあけぼの
| tsukikage no kozue ni nokoru yama no ha ni hana mo kasumeru haru no akebono | The moonlight Lingers ‘pon the treetops On the mountains’ edge; The blossoms are all hazy At the dawn in sprintime. |
The Rokujō Lay Priest and Former Chancellor
[Fujiwara no Yorizane 藤原頼実 (1155-1225)]
When he presented a fifty-poem sequence.
たづねきて花にくらせる木のまよりまつとしもなき山のはの月
| tazunekite hana ni kuraseru ko no ma yori matsu to shimo naki yama no ha no tsuki | I came searching Blossom all day long Between the trees, when Though I’d not awaited it, saw The moon upon the mountains’ edge. |
Fujiwara no Masatsune
Round Two
Left
人しれずはれぬ歎きの有るものを普くてらせ秋のよの月
| hito shirezu harenu nageki no aru mono o amaneku terase aki no yo no tsuki | Unknown to all A grief which never clears I have, so Shine without restraint, O, moon this autumn night! |
His Excellency, Nagazane, Former Assistant Governor General of Dazai
3
Right
山の端のうき雲晴れてすみのぼる月と共にもゆくこころかな
| yama no ha no ukigumo harete suminoboru tsuki to tomo ni yuku kokoro kana | At the mountains’ edge The drifting clouds unfurl, and Clearly climbing With the moon Goes my spirit! |
Lady Hyōenokami
4
In the poem of the Left, the expression following ‘A grief which never clears / I have, so’ is both forceful and lacking in gentility; in addition, the poem of the Right’s ‘drifting clouds clear away’ and what follows seems stagnant, so the light of the moon these nights seems to be of the same standard.
Round Three
Left (Win)
いかにしてあきはひかりのまさるらんおなじみかさの山のはの月
| ika ni shite aki wa hikari no masaruran onaji mikasa no yama no ha no tsuki | Why is it that In autumn your light Should be best of all? Though always upon Mikasa Mountain’s edge you rest, O moon… |
Retired from the world
33
Right
秋のよはくもるといへどこと月のさやけきよりもさやけかりけり
| aki no yo wa kumoru to iedomo koto tsuki no sayakeki yori mo sayakarikeri | On an autumn night Cloudy it may be, yet Compared to another moon’s Brightness, ‘tis still More bright. |
Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
34
Both the configuration and diction of the Left’s poem seem comprehensible. The poem of the Right’s use of ‘moon’ is dubious and blameworthy. Thus, the Left wins.
The poem of the Left doesn’t sound bad. I feel it has a well-trodden ending for a poem and it reminds me of the old line ‘what is this light’[1]—it’s extremely charming. In the Right’s poem, I wonder if ‘another moon’ might be referring to the calendar month, but listening to it, it really does sound as if there are two moons in the sky! Furthermore, the poem lacks fluency and is further case of a hasty retreat from the topic, isn’t it. It’s an excess of technique to say that the autumn moon is not inferior to any other, even if it’s covered with cloud.
[1] Composed for the Palace Poetry Match held on the 10th day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1. いつもみる月ぞとおもへどあきのよはいかなるかげをそふるなるらん itsumo miru / tsuki zo to omoedo / aki no yo wa / ika naru kage o / sourunaruran ‘Always, do I see / The moon, I thought, yet / On an autumn night / What is this light / That trails over all?’ Fujiwara no Nagayoshi (GSIS IV: 256)
