さをしかのおのがすむのの女郎花花にあかずとねをや鳴くらん
saoshika no ono ga sumu no no ominaeshi hana ni akazu to ne o ya nakuran | Might the stag, In the meadow where he does dwell, By the maidenflower Blooms be so unsatisfied that He should cry out so? |

Round Eight
Left
やまかぜにしほるる野べの草むらのねやさむしとや鹿の鳴くらん
yamakaze ni shioruru nobe no kusamura no neya samushi to ya shika no nakuran | The mountain wind Withers the meadow’s Clumps of grasses— Is it his chilly bedchamber That makes the stag cry out? |
Moromitsu
39
Right (Win)
あはれとはねらふさつをも思ふらんをしか妻どふ秋の夕ぐれ
aware to wa nerau satsuo mo omouran oshika tsumadobu aki no yūgure | ‘How sad,’ The aiming hunter, too, Seems to think, as The stag searches for his mate On an autumn evening… |
Lay Priest Sanekiyo
40
The Left shows no technique from beginning to end, compounded by the fact that, while ‘although the stag does lie’ is a common expression in poetry, ‘bedchamber’ is something I am unaccustomed to hearing. As for the Right, ‘aiming hunter’ is distasteful to hear, but the poem is not bad overall, so it wins.
Round Twelve
Left
我がやどものこる花なくうゑつれど野べのけしきは猶ぞ床しき
wa ga yado mo nokoru hana naku uetsuredo nobe no keshiki wa nao zo yukashiki | At my dwelling Lingering blooms are there none Though I did plant them, The prospect of a meadow is Charming still! |
Lord Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, Senior Secretary of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office
23
Right
秋萩の枝もとををにおく露のはらはばあやな花やちりなん
akihagi no eda mo tōo ni oku tsuyu no harawaba aya na hana ya chirinan | The autumn bush-clover Branches bent with Fallen dewdrops— Should I sweep them off, then Would the blossoms scatter, I wonder? |
Lay Priest and Master of the Left Capital Office Norinaga
24
Doesn’t the Right seem to resemble the poem in the Ancient and Modern Collection which says
をりてみば落ちぞしぬべき秋萩の枝もとををにおけるしら露
oritemiba ochi zo shinubeki akihagi no eda mo tōo ni okeru shiratsuyu | Were I to pluck one, ‘Twould fall and smash: Autumn bush-clover’s Branches bent With fallen silver dewdrops. |
Round Nine
Left (Win)
女郎花いづれの秋かみえざりし野原の霧に立ちなかくれそ
ominaeshi izure no aki ka miezarishi nohara no kiri ni tachi na kakure so | O, maidenflower, In which autumn is it, that You have remained unseen? In the mists upon the meadow Stand and don’t hide yourself! |
Kataoka Shrine Priest Kamo no Masahira
17
Right
心から夜のまの露にしほたれてあさじめりする女郎花かな
kokoro kara yo no ma no tsuyu ni shiotarete asajimerisuru ominaeshi kana | Her heart Throughout the night with dewdrops Drenches her, Dripping with morning tears is The maidenflower! |
Fujiwara no Koreyuki, Supernumerary Junior Assistant Minster of the Sovereign’s Household
18
The Left is extremely absorbingly composed. As for the Right, though, I wonder about the use of being ‘drenched with dewdrops’—while it does put me in mind of fisherfolk at Ise, because it fails to indicate anything in the conception of the topic, it should lose, I think.
Topic unknown.
きえぬべき露のうき身の置所いづれの野べの草葉なるらん
kienubeki tsuyu no ukimi no okidokoro izure no nobe no kusaba naruran | Surely to vanish As the dewdrops is my pitiful lot, and The place I fall Will be in some meadow Among the blades of grass, no doubt… |
Inpumon’in no Taiyu
[One of] Five love poems in a Twenty Poem Sequence composed in his retreat in Kenryaku 2 [1212].
あらち山やた野の浅茅色付きぬ人の心の峰の淡雪
arachiyama yatano no asaji irozukinu hito no kokoro no mine no awayuki | By Arachi Mountain, In Yata meadow the cogon grass Has taken on passion’s hues, but My lady’s heart is A peak covered in snow-spume. |
Ietaka
Topic unknown.
あすからはわかなつまんとしめし野にきのふもけふもゆきはふりつつ
asu kara wa wakana tsuman to shimeshi no ni kinō mo kyō mo yuki wa furitsutsu | From the morrow I thought to pick fresh herbs, but Upon my roped off meadow Yesterday and today, too, The snow is ever falling… |
Yamabe no Akahito
Cherry Blossom
Left (Tie)
わがそのへいざかへりなむあさがほのひとはなさくらのはなりにけり
wa ga sono e iza kaerinamu asagao no hito hana sakura no wa narinikeri | To my garden, Well, I must return, for A morning glory’s Single bloom in flower seems To have turned it to a meadow. |
Okikaze
9
Right
はるはきぬたねにまくべきいねはなさくらのはなへにおろしはててよ
haru wa kinu tane ni makubeki ine wa nasa kura no hanae ni oroshihateteyo | Spring has come, and The seeds must be sown; No seedlings sprout Beside the storehouse Sow them all! |
10