When Lord Kanesuke had been promoted from Consultant Middle Captain to Middle Counsellor, the following year he went to the banquet held by the winner of the New Year Archery and composed this when all and sundry were recounting their thoughts.
旧里のみかさの山はとほけれど声は昔のうとからぬかな
| Furusato no mikasa no yama Fa toFokeredo kowe Fa mukasi no utokaranu kana | My ancient home Upon Mikasa Mountain is Distant, yet Your voices mean those bygone days I cannot dislike! |
Lord Kanesuke
Spring Breeze
Left (Tie)
やまがはのみかさまされりはるかぜにたにのこほりはとけにけらしも
| yamagawa no mikasa masareri harukaze ni tani no kōri wa tokenikerashi mo | The mountain stream’s Spate is at its height; Before spring breezes The valleys’ ice Has melted, it seems! |
3[i]
Right
やまがはのながれまさるははるかぜにたにのこほりを吹きてとくらむ
| yamagawa no nagare masaru wa harukaze ni tani no kōri o fukite tokuramu | The mountain stream is Flowing high: The breeze of spring Upon the valleys’ ice Blows and melted it, I think… |
Tadami
4
[i] This poem is included in Shoku goshūishū (I: 39), attributed to Kanemori, with the headnote ‘A poem from the Poetry Match held by the Reikeiden Junior Consort’.
Round Three
Left[i]
君が代は神にぞいのる住之江の松の千年をゆづれとおもへば
| kimi ga yo wa kami ni zo inoru suminoe no matsu no chitose o yuzure to omoeba | My Lord’s reign: To the gods I pray, that Suminoe’s Pines their thousand years Pass on—that is my hope… |
Retired from the World
61a
きみがへむやちよのかずはあめにますとよをかひめの神やしるらん
| kimi ga hemu yachiyo no kazu wa ame ni masu toyo’okahime no kami ya shiruran | That my Lord will endure The number of eight thousand ages— Residing in the heavens, The Goddess of the Eternal Hills, The deity, knows well, no doubt! |
Retired from the World
61b
Right (Win)
君がよはつきじとぞおもふ春の日の御笠の山にささむかぎりは
| kimi ga yo wa tsukiji to zo omou haru no hi no mikasa no yama ni sasamu kagiri wa | My Lord’s reign Will never fade, I feel! While in spring the sun Upon Mikasa Mountain Shines down… |
Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
62
Both Left and Right have neither strengths nor weakness in their diction and sense, but I feel that ‘While in spring the sun / Upon Mikasa Mountain / Shines down’ is a bit more dependable at present than ‘Suminoe’s / Pines their thousand years’.
It is certainly not the case that there are no dubious elements about the Left’s poem. As ‘eight thousand ages’ is a definite number, what is it that the Goddess of the Eternal Hills is expected to know? If this is something in the deity’s hands, then it should be, ‘does not even know the number’. I’m sure the Goddess herself would ask what she’s expected to know. The Right seems stronger.
[i] There are different poems by Eien this round in different versions of the text of the contest. As can be inferred from the judgements, Mototoshi saw the first poem and Toshiyori the second. This strongly suggests that Mototoshi’s judgements were circulated before the text of the contest was submitted to Toshiyori, and Eien revised his poem this round as a result (Kubota et al. 2018, 308).
Round Two
Left (Win)
君がよはあまのいはとをいづるひのいくめぐりてふかずもしられず
| kimi ga yo wa ama no iwato o izuru hi no iku meguri chō kazu mo shirarezu | My Lord’s reign: Since from the stone door in the heavens Emerged the sun, ‘How many circuits has she made?’, they ask— A number quite unknown. |
Lord Saburō
59
Right
みかさやまふもとのさとはあめのしたふるにおもひもあらじとぞ思ふ
| mikasayama fumoto no sato wa ame no shita furu ni omoi mo araji to zo omou | At Mikasa Moutain’s Foot, in a hamlet ‘neath the heavens Passing time—painful thoughts There I’d have not a one, I feel! |
Ushigimi
60
The Left’s poem goes beyond the general flow of diction, containing mystery and depth. I have to say it is truly superior. While the Right’s poem has no faults to mention, it has yet to emerge from prosaic expression. Thus, the Left wins.
The ‘stone door in the heavens’ is that which the supreme sun-deity Amaterasu stood before and then entered. But when we’re talking about dawn breaking at the end of night, we say ‘gates of heaven’. Which of these two was did the poet have in mind, I wonder? If he was thinking of dawn breaking, then the usage is erroneous, but even if he did mean ‘stone door of the heavens’, then do we use this about the circuits of the sun? This is vague. In addition, the final ‘they ask’ is difficult to pronounce. As for the Right’s poem, ‘‘neath the heavens’ lacks emotion. The dual use of ‘thoughts’ and ‘feels’, as I have already remarked, is not an error, but does grate on the ears a bit.
Round Three
Left (Win)
いかにしてあきはひかりのまさるらんおなじみかさの山のはの月
| ika ni shite aki wa hikari no masaruran onaji mikasa no yama no ha no tsuki | Why is it that In autumn your light Should be best of all? Though always upon Mikasa Mountain’s edge you rest, O moon… |
Retired from the world
33
Right
秋のよはくもるといへどこと月のさやけきよりもさやけかりけり
| aki no yo wa kumoru to iedomo koto tsuki no sayakeki yori mo sayakarikeri | On an autumn night Cloudy it may be, yet Compared to another moon’s Brightness, ‘tis still More bright. |
Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer
34
Both the configuration and diction of the Left’s poem seem comprehensible. The poem of the Right’s use of ‘moon’ is dubious and blameworthy. Thus, the Left wins.
The poem of the Left doesn’t sound bad. I feel it has a well-trodden ending for a poem and it reminds me of the old line ‘what is this light’[1]—it’s extremely charming. In the Right’s poem, I wonder if ‘another moon’ might be referring to the calendar month, but listening to it, it really does sound as if there are two moons in the sky! Furthermore, the poem lacks fluency and is further case of a hasty retreat from the topic, isn’t it. It’s an excess of technique to say that the autumn moon is not inferior to any other, even if it’s covered with cloud.
[1] Composed for the Palace Poetry Match held on the 10th day of the Eighth Month, Kanna 1. いつもみる月ぞとおもへどあきのよはいかなるかげをそふるなるらん itsumo miru / tsuki zo to omoedo / aki no yo wa / ika naru kage o / sourunaruran ‘Always, do I see / The moon, I thought, yet / On an autumn night / What is this light / That trails over all?’ Fujiwara no Nagayoshi (GSIS IV: 256)
Original
さくらばなゆきとふるめりみかさやまいざたちよらむなにかくるやと
| sakurabana yukitourumeri mikasayama iza tachiyoramu nani kakuru ya to | The cherry blossom Seems to pass as falling snow On Mikasa Mountain— Say, let’s shelter ‘neath umbrellas there, Whether they’ll conceal us or not…[1] |
Mitsune
28
Left (Tie)
やまのなにたちしもよらじさくらばなゆきとふるともいろにぬれめや
| yama no na ni tachishi mo yoraji sakurabana yukitouru to mo iro ni nureme ya | Based on the mountain’s name, I would take no shelter from The cherry blossoms, for Even should they pass as falling snow Would their hues wet my sleeves? |
29
Right
かくるれどやまずゆきこそふりかかれみかさのやまははなやもるらん
| kakururedo yamazu yuki koso furikakare mikasa no yama wa hana ya moruran | I have concealed myself, yet Incessantly those snows Do fall; From Mikasa Mountain, will The blossom drip, I wonder? |
30
[1] This poem occurs in Mitsune-shū (328) with the same headnote as that for poem 22 (above). This is a somewhat facetious poem in that Mitsune is punning on the name of the mountain, Mikasa, which could be read to mean ‘honoured umbrella’. Both of the ladies composing this round pick up on his wordplay, with the author of (29) saying that there’s no need to take shelter as blossom will not leave a stain, as snow would, and the author of (30) wondering rhetorically if the blossom would drip from an umbrella as melting snow would.
Original
やへたてるみかさのやまのしらくもはみゆきさぶらふさくらなりけり
| yae tateru mikasa no yama no shirakumo wa miyuki saburau sakura narikeri | Standing eightfold high above Mikasa Mountain, The clouds of white, In service to the excursion Are cherries. |
7
Left (Win)
よそにてもきみしみつれば山ざくらこころやすくやいまはちるらむ
| yoso nite mo kimi shi mitsureba yamazakura kokoro yasuku ya ima wa chiruramu | Seen from afar, and Even by my Lady, do The mountain cherries Contentedly Seem to scatter now? |
8
Right
やへたてるくもゐに見えしさくらばなかへるたむけにけふやちるらん
| yae tateru kumoi ni mieshi sakurabana kaeru tamuke ni kyō ya chiruran | Standing eightfold high Among the clouds, I seemed to see Cherry blossoms, As a memento of our return Seeming to scatter today. |
9
Original
さくらばなみかさのやまのかげしあればゆきとふるともぬれじとぞおもふ
| sakurabana mikasa no yama no kage shi areba yuki to furutomo nureji to zo omou | When cherry blossom Upon Mikasa mountain Shows its shape, Even should snow fall, I’ll not get damp, I feel![1] |
4
Left
このまよりはなのゆきのみちりくるはみかさのやまのもるにざるべき
| ko no ma yori hana no yuki nomi chirikuru wa mikasa no yama no morunizarubeki | Between the trees Simply a snow of blossom Comes a’falling— Mikasa mountain Will certainly be covered![2] |
5
Right (Win)
かすがのにゆきとふるてふはなみにぞみかさの山をさしてきにける
| kasugano ni yuki to furu chō hanami ni zo mikasa no yama o sashite kinikeri | Upon Kasuga Plain, Snow falls, they say— Indeed, when viewing blossom On Mikasa mountain, an umbrella Raise up as you come! |
6
[1] This is included in Shūishū (XVI: 1056) as an anonymous poem under the heading ‘Topic unknown’.
[2] This poem is included in Shinsenzaishū (II: 152), as an anonymous poem with the headnote: ‘Composed in reply to “When cherry blossom / Upon Mikasa mountain / Shows its shape, / Even should snow fall, / I’ll not get damp, I feel!”, which was among twenty-one poems by provincial officials, when the Kyōgoku Lady of the Bedchamber went to Kasuga.’
つらきをば思ひはれじとおもへども身をしる雨の所せくかな
| tsuraki oba omoihareji to omoedomo mi o shiru ame no tokoroseku kana | Your cruelty Would never vanish from my thoughts, I felt, but The gentle rain knows me too well— How unmanageable it is! |
Kodashin
37
おもはずにふりそふ雨の歎をばみかさの山をさしてちかはん
| omowazu ni furisou ame no nageki oba mikasa no yama o sashite chikanan | Unexpectedly, Rainfall covers all With grief, as On Mount Mikasa, my umbrella I raise as it draws near. |
Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Toshitada
38