Round Four
Left (Win)
あけぬるか霞の衣たちかへり猶君が代の春をまつかな
| akenuru ka kasumi no koromo tachikaeri nao kimi ga yo no haru o matsu kana | Is it the breaking dawn that Hazy raiment Casts back? Ever for my Lord’s reign’s Springtime do I pine! |
Novice Dōchin
7
Right
天の戸のあけゆく空はうれしきを猶はれやらず立つ霞かな
| ama no to no akeyuku sora wa ureshiki o nao hareyarazu tatsu kasumi kana | That Heaven’s door Opens to brighten the sky— What joy, but Still, never clearing is The rising haze! |
Dharma Master Nyogan
8
The Left poem’s links with celebration are certainly not something praiseworthy, but I am unable to accept the Right’s ‘joy’. Thus, the Left wins.
Round Three
Left (Win)
春の夜のあくる霞の立田山これや神代の衣なるらん
| haru no yo no akuru kasumi no tatsutayama kore ya kamiyo no koromo naruran | At a spring night’s Dawn the haze around Tatsuta Mountain— Is this how in the age of gods Raiment might have been? |
Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
5
Right
朝霞雲居をかけて見わたせばいたりいたらぬ山の端もなし
| asagasumi kumoi o kakete miwataseba itari itaranu yama no ha mo nashi | When, upon the morning haze Draping from the clouds, I turn my gaze, it Spread out, and fails to reach, Not a single mountain’s edge. |
Nobunari, Senior Third Rank
6
Both Left and Right are difficult to tell apart, yet the Left’s ‘clothing of the Age of Gods’ would seem to be superior.
Composed as a poem on the moon.
あきの夜はころもさむしろかさねても月のひかりに敷くものぞなき
| aki no yo wa koromo samushiro kasanetemo tsuki no hikari ni shiku mono zo naki | On an autumn night Even with a robe and chilly blanket both Piled on, The moon’s light Spreading, is entirely matchless. |
Major Counsellor Tsunenobu
On the conception of fulling clothes.
みよしのの山のあきかぜさ夜ふけて故郷さむくころもうつなり
| miyoshino no yama no akikaze sayo fukete furusato samuku koromo utsunari | On fair Yoshino Mountain the autumn wind Marks a brief night’s end, For in this ancient place the chill Carries the sound of fulling cloth. |
Consultant Masatsune
Sent to Lord Michinobu, attached to a branch of cherry blossom, in spring, Shōryaku 2 [991], when in mourning for the emperor.
すみぞめのころもうき世の花ざかりをりわすれてもをりてけるかな
| sumizome no koromo uki yo no hanazakari ori wasurete mo oritekeru kana | All are in ink-dyed Clothes, yet in this cruel world Blossom blooms most freely; Forgetful of the time, Did I pluck these. |
Lord Fujiwara no Sanekata
Topic unknown.
かぜさむみ伊勢のはま荻分行けばころもかりがねなみになくなり
| kaze samumi ise no hama ogi wakeyukeba koromo kari ga ne nami ni naku nari | The wind’s so chill, as Through the silver grass upon the beach at Ise I forge my way, that I’d borrow a robe with goose cries Sounding ‘cross the waves! |
Former Middle Counsellor Masafusa
When responding to the topic ‘widely spaced they are’ in the reign of the Tenryaku emperor.
なれゆくはうき世なればやすまのあまのしほやき衣まどほなるらん
| nareyuku wa ukiyo nareba ya suma no ama no shioyaki koromo madōnaruran | Affection Turns to cruelty, does it not? The fisher folk at Suma Burn salt in robes with Wide gaps, it seems…[1] |
Princess Yoshiko, Junior Consort
[1] An allusive variation on KKS XV: 758.
Topic unknown.
すまのあまのしほやき衣をさをあらみまどほにあれや君がきまさぬ
| suma no ama no siFoyaki koromo wo sa wo arami madoFo ni are ya kimi ga kimasanu | The fisher folk at Suma Burn salt in robes So crudely woven – The gaps as wide as Your infrequent visits. |
Anonymous
Summer
Five poems on the Fourth Month
Left (Win)
みやまいでてまづはつこゑはほととぎすよぶかくまたむわがやどになけ
| miyama idete mazu hatsukoe wa hototogisu yobu kaku matamu wa ga yado ni nake | Emerging from the mountains deep, Early, your first call, Cuckoo— Where I would be waiting all night long At my house, o, sing out! |
Masakata[i]
41
Right
けふよりはなつのころもになりぬれどきるひとさへはかはらざりけり
| kyō yori wa natsu no koromo ni narinuredo kiru hito sae wa kawarazarikeri | From today Summer garb We have put on, yet The folk who wear it Have not changed at all. |
Mitsune
42
‘The Right is uninteresting,’ so it lost.
[i] Minamoto no Masakata 源雅固 (dates unknown). A son of Minamoto no Sada’ari 源定有 (dates unknown), one of the sons of Emperor Montoku (827-858; r. 850-858).
