Composed gazing at the moon.
あまの原そらさへさえや渡るらん氷と見ゆる冬の夜の月
| ama no Fara sora saFe sae ya wataruran koFori to miyuru Fuyu no yo no tuki | The plain of Heaven, The sky, so coldly Does it seem to cross, Ice, it does appear, The moon upon a winter’s night. |
Egyō
Topic unknown.
思ひつつねなくにあくる冬の夜の袖の氷はとけずもあるかな
| omoFitutu nenaku ni akuru Fuyu no yo no sode no koFori wa tokezu mo aru kana | Filled with passionate thoughts, Sleepless until dawn, On a winter’s night The ice upon my sleeves Shows no sign of melting. |
Anonymous
Topic unknown.
池水や氷とくらむあしがもの夜ぶかくこゑのさわぐなるかな
| ikemizu ya kōri tokuramu ashigamo no yobukaku koe no sawagunaru kana | Above the pond waters The ice has melted, it seems, for The ducks Deep within the night are crying So noisily! |
Tachibana no Yukiyori
橘行頼
A poem from the Poetry Competition held in the reign of the Kanpyō Empress.
谷風にとくる氷のひまごとに打いづる波や春のはつ花
| tanikaze ni tokuru koFori no Fimagoto ni uti’iduru nami ya Faru no FatuFana |
In the valley’s breezes Does melt the ice, and From every crack Do burst waves – are these The first blooms of spring? |
Minamoto no Masazumi
源当純
竜田川紅葉葉とづる薄氷渡らばそれと中や絶えなむ
| tatsutagawa momijiba tozuru usukōri wataraba sore to naka ya taenamu |
The River Tatsuta: Scarlet leaves are sealed within Sheet ice; Should I cross would it Shatter in the centre? |
Ietaka
とぢ渡すこほりに雪のうはぎして寒けに見ゆる衣川かな
| todiwatasu koFori ni yuki no uFagisite samuke ni miyuru koromogaFa kana |
Sealed across The ice has snow In a coat upon it; You can see the chill At the River Robe! |
Fujiwara no Nakamasa
藤原仲正
衣川むすぶこほりのけぬが上につもる雪をやとぢかさぬらむ
| koromogaFa musubu koFori no kenu ga uFe ni tumoru yuki wo ya to todikasanuramu |
At the River Robe, Bound in ice that Never fades, upon it Piles the snows: is Not that why I am sealed in here? |
Shunzei
ますらをが藻ふしつか鮒ふし漬けしかひやが下も氷りしにけり
| masurao ga mofushitsukabuna fushizukeshi kaiya ga shita mo kōrishinikeri |
Where brawny man Finger carp Did trap, Even beneath the keeping-hut Is thick with ice. |
Fujiwara no Kinzane
藤原公実
Left.
氷ゐるみるめなぎさのたぐひかな上堰く袖の下のさゞ浪
| kōri iru mirume nagisa no tagui kana ue seku sode no shita no sazanami |
As ice-bound Algae on the beach Am I: The surface stopped up, but my sleeves Conceal a confusion of waves… |
621
Right.
我とはと思ふにかゝる涙こそ抑ふる袖の下になりぬれ
| ware to wa to omou ni kakaru namida koso osauru sode no shita ni narinure |
I should say nothing, I feel, and yet My tears, Held down by my sleeves, Do flow beneath them… |
622
The Gentlemen of the Right state: the Left do not seem to be expressing enough. The Gentlemen of the Left state: the initial line of the Right’s poem is difficult to pronounce. In addition, it is difficult to understand.
Shunzei’s judgement: the Left’s ‘the surface stopped up, but my sleeves’ (ue seku sode no) and the Right’s ‘held down by my sleeves’ (osauru sode no) are both elegant in form [yū naru sama], but no matter how much I ponder them I find them difficult to comprehend, so again, there is no clear winner or loser this round.
Left (Win).
冴ゆる夜に鴛鴦の衾を方敷きて袖の氷を拂ひかねつゝ
| sayuru yo ni oshi no fusuma o katashikite sode no kōri o haraikanetsutu |
On a freezing night Beneath my duck-down bedding I lie alone; The ice upon my sleeve I can never brush away… |
577
Right.
木の葉をや鳥の上毛に殘すらん閨の衾も冴ゆる霜夜に
| ko no ha o ya tori no uwage ni nokosuran neya no fusuma mo sayuru shimo yo ni |
Are there any leaves Left by the birds For extra feathers? The bedding in my chamber Is frozen with frost tonight… |
578
Neither Left nor Right have anything in particular to say.
Shunzei’s judgement: I wonder about accepting the Left’s ‘Beneath my duck-down bedding I lie alone’ (oshi no fusuma o katashikite). The strengths and weaknesses are plain, and so there is not much more to say than that. The Left wins.