Round One

The Moon over the Shrine

Left (Win)　　　

ふりにけるまつものいはばとひてましむかしもかくやすみのえの月

furinikeru matsu mono’iwaba toitemashi mukashi mo kaku ya suminoe no tsuki

Could these ancient Pines but speak, I would ask them In ancient times was it so? The moon o’er Suminoe…

Lord Fujiwara no Sanesada
Senior Second Rank[i]
1

Right

こころなきこころもなほぞつきはつる月さへすめるすみよしのはま

kokoronaki kokoro mo nao zo tsukihatsuru tsuki sae sumeru sumiyoshi no hama

Even my insensitive Heart is still Quite exhausted, So clear the moon Above the beach at Sumiyoshi…

Lord Fujiwara no Toshinari
Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office
Master of the Right Capital Office
Exalted Senior Third Rank
2

The Left poem’s conception and configuration, saying ‘In ancient times was it so? / The moon o’er Suminoe’ is truly charming! While I am accustomed to hearing conceptions similar to that expressed in the initial line, I have no recollection of this exact turn of phrase and, in addition, leading with ‘Could these ancient’ and continuing with ‘Pines but speak’ is a conception which is rare, indeed. In the poem of the Right, on the moon over the beach before the shrine, I have quite exhausted my own meagre conceptions and, feel that my scanty words are not enough, I think. The Left’s poem is particularly fine, so it should win.

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[i] Shōni’i Fujiwara ason Sanesada正二位藤原朝臣実定 (1139-1191)：Most frequently referred to today as the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left (Gotokudaiji no sadaijin 後徳大寺左大臣), Sanesada had an extensive court career, culminating in appointment as Minister of the Left in 1189, a position he was to hold for only two years, before illness forced him to surrender it in the middle of 1191, a few months before his death. Sanesada skillfully negotiated the fraught political environment following the Genpei War (1180-1185) and is known to have had the trust of Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-1199), the first Kamakura shogun. He was well-known as a poet, participating in many uta’awase, including this one, and has 73 poems in imperial anthologies, beginning with Senzaishū. His most famous poem today is: Composed in the conception of hearing a cuckoo at dawn. 時鳥鳴きつるかたをながむればたゞ有明の月ぞのこれる hototogisu / nakitsuru kata o / nagamureba / tada ariake no / tsuki zo nokoreru ‘A cuckoo / Calls from yonder— / Gazing there, / Only the daybreak / Moon remains.’ (SZS III: 161), which was included in Hyakunin isshu (81).