For a folding screen with images of the moon in every month, during the reign of the Engi emperor.
神まつる卯月にさける卯の花はしろくもきねがしらげたるかな
| kami maturu uduki ni sakeru unoFana Fa siroku mo kine ga siragetaru kana | Sacred to the Gods, The Fourth Month is when bloom Deutzia, So white that maidens from the shrine Must have whitened them! |
Mitsune
Round Four
Left (Win)
月かげはさえにけらしなかみがきやよるべのみづにつららゐるまで
| tsukikage wa saenikerashina kamigaki ya yorube no mizu ni tsurara’iru made | The moonlight Seems so chill, that In the sacred grounds Jars of proffered water Are rimmed with icicles… |
Lord Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Junior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade
Without Office[1]
7
Right
つきかげにかなづるきねがころもではゆきをめぐらすここちこそすれ
| tsukikage ni kanazuru kine ga koromode wa yuki o megurasu kokochi koso sure | In the moonlight Dancing, the priests’ Sleeves Stir the snow— That’s how I feel… |
Lord Consultant Fujiwara no Sanetsuna
Major Controller of the Left
Chief Inspector of the Records of Outgoing Officials
Supernumerary Governor of Awa
Exalted Junior Third Rank[1]
8
In the Left’s poem, the expression ‘Jars of proffered water / Are rimmed with icicles’ appears to make for a pleasant sequence but seems to have some dubious elements. First of all, I am aware that ‘proffered water’ is mentioned in the Tale of Genji in a poem on the day of the Kamo Festival: ‘That may be, but / Even in the jars of proffered water / Might not appear’[3], but beyond that, it is not used in prior poetry.[i] The water here sounds rather crude to these ears of mine; when one is using figurative language, although it seems possible to do so about any shrine, when referring to the moon before this one, to ignore a description of ice upon the surface of the sea or the beach being spread with pure white gemstones and simply to focus on ‘jars of proffered water’ and say one feels it ‘seems so chill’—well, I do wonder about that! As for the Right’s poem, the movements of a dance have long been described as ‘flurrying snow’ in the poetry of Cathay and now here we have the moonlight appearing to ‘stir the snow’—the conception here appears truly charming, but then we have the section saying ‘Dancing, the priests’: while it’s not that this turn of phrase has never been used before, it does not sound particularly elegant. While the Left does have vague sections, its configuration as a whole is fine. Thus, I think it has to win once more.
[1] San’i jūyon’i-jō Fujiwara ason Kiyosuke 散位従四位上藤原朝臣清輔
[2] Sangi jūsan’i-gyō sadaiben ken kageyu no kami awa gonkami Fujiwara ason Sanetsuna 参議従三位行左大弁兼勘解由長官阿波権守藤原朝臣実綱
[3] This poem appears in Maboroshi 幻, the forty-first chapter of the Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari 源氏物語). It is spoken by Chūjō, one of Genji’s ladies-in-waiting, after he has found her asleep, with her clothing in disorder one morning and flirtatiously suggested, as she has struggled to get dressed, that it has been so long since he has made love that he has forgotten how. She replies: さもこそはよるべの水に水草ゐめけふのかざしよ名さへ忘るる sa mo koso wa / yorube no mizu ni / mizukusa ime / kyō no kazashi yo / na sae wasururu ‘That may be, but / In the jars of proffered water / Waterweed grows old, perhaps, yet / To say that the blossom in your hair today / Has had its name forgotten? Really…’ (Genji monogatari 573). Genji is charmed by this reply and the narrator dryly notes, ‘He seemed not to have rejected her at least’ (Tyler 2001, 773) (hitori bakari wa oboshihanatanu keshiki nari 一人ばかりをば思し放たぬけしきなり (Imaizumi, Mori, and Wokazaki 1976, 872)). The version of the poem Shunzei quotes comes from an alternate version of the Genji text, which is now not regarded as authoritative.
[i] Kubota et al. (2024, 427) note that Shunzei is mistaken here, as there are prior examples of related expressions’ usage, by Izumi Shikibu, among others. For example: …she folded some paper into the shape of an offering, wrote this upon it and sent it.神かけてきみはあらがふたれかさはよるべにたまる水といひける kami kakete / kimi wa aragau / tare ka sa wa / yorube ni tamaru / mizu to iikeru ‘Before the Gods / My Lord, dispute with you / Who would? ‘Twould be as / Proffered jars filling / With water…’ (Izumi Shikibu-shū 109).
Original
ちはやぶるかすがのはらにこきまぜてはなともみゆるかみのきねかな
| chihayaburu kasuga no hara ni kokimazete hana tomo miyuru kami no kine kana | On mighty Kasuga plain All blend together Blossom seen with The God’s servitors! |
Mitsune
10
Left (Win)
かすがののはなとはまたも見えぬべしいまこむはるのかざしがてらに
| kasugano no hana to wa mata mo mienubeshi ima komu haru no kazashigatera ni | Kasuga Plain’s Blossom once more Could be seen, In the spring now lying ahead, As a garland in its hair… |
11
Right
はるがすみたちまじりつつゆくからにあだにもはなとみえにけるかな
| harugasumi tachimajiritsutsu yuku kara ni ada ni mo hana to mienikeru kana | Amidst the haze of spring Standing Have we come, so It might be untrue, but as blossom Do we seem! |
12
The Lady of the Right on this occasion mistook the word ‘plain’ in the original poem and wrote down ‘meadow’ instead. This was challenged by the Lady of the Left, saying, ‘That’s what we heard. When someone composes at variance with the conception of the topic, that’s a loss. Thus, the Lady of the Right loses.’
Tadafusa then said to His Majesty, ‘The character used to write “plain” can, in fact, also be used to write “field”. Even though the Right is inferior, it is still a fine poem, and so I would make this a tie.’
His Majesty responded, ‘The does not correspond to what has been said. You don’t seem to reached a logical conclusion.’
Tadafusa silently bowed his head, and after long while, eventually, said, ‘What the Lady of the Left has said is logical and appropriate.’
‘Well, then, judge again, based on this,’ His Majesty instructed, and the Lady of the Right lost, and was not permitted another composition.
