Only the date of this contest remains, along with two of its poems. Given the season, it would clearly have been an autumn-themed event and, as the 15th day of the Eighth Month was when conventionally the moon was at its brightest, it is not surprising that it seems to have been held at night, and contained at least some poems where the moon was a theme.
Of the two surviving poems, one was included in Fubokushō (XIV: 5840), while the other is only recorded here.
いそのかみふるのやしろにはふくずもあきにしなれば色かはりけり
isonokami Furu no yasiro ni haFu kuzu mo aki ni shi nareba iro kaFarikeri
In Isonokami At the ancient shrine of Furu Even the creeping kudzu vine When the autumn comes Does change its hues.
1
Right
山のはももみぢてちりぬ月影のかくるるところなくなりぬべし
yama no Fa mo momidite tirinu tukikage no kakururu tokoro nakunarinubesi
Along the mountains’ edge Scarlet leaves have scattered In the moonlight A place concealed Is there none, at all.
The Right state: the Left’s poem sounds pretentious. We are also unable to accept the use of ‘colt, you are not’ (komagoma). The Left state: the Right’s poem sounds archaic.
In judgement: ‘Dishevelled in appearance as a piebald’ (araki keshiki o midarao) is entirely unacceptable style. As for ‘covered with kuzu’, while ‘field is all’ (no mo se) is also undesirable, the final section is elegant. It should win over ‘piebald’.
The Right state that the initial line of the Left’s poem is ‘awkward’ [amari nari], and that they cannot approve of the final use of ya. The Left wonder about the appropriateness of ‘Holds all my regrets’ (uramihatenuru).
Shunzei’s judgement: The Gentlemen of the Right have a number of criticisms of the Left’s poem. However, with careful consideration, while the poem is not tasteful in its entirety [subete yū ni shimo arazaredo], the initial line does not seem that strange, and the final ya is fine, is it not? The Right’s ‘The clumps of miscanthus grass from time to time across the fields do wave’ is tasteful [yū naru], but all that connects with ‘arrowroot’, is the subsequent ‘seeing what lies beneath’. ‘Arrowroot’ is too briefly in the poem for this. The initial and final sections of the Left’s poem have been criticised by the Gentlemen of the Right, but they are not without purpose. Thus, the Left wins.
