hana no e ni tsuyu no yado kasu miyagino no tsuki ni zo aki no iro wa miekeru
A spray of blossom Has lent lodging to the dewdrops On Miyagi Plain In the moon, truly, autumn’s Hues are plain to see.
[i] This poem was composed for the ‘Poetry Match of Places Famed for the Moon on the 15th Night of the Eighth Month’ (Hachigatsu jūgoya meisho no tsuki uta’awase 八月十五夜名所月歌合) held on night of the 15th day of the Eighth Month, Jōei 1 [1.9.1232] (Ishikawa and Tani 2001, 171), although it was not included in the extant text of the match.
This is a poem which was written on a poetry slip and attached to the diorama when it was presented to the young prince,[i] on the day following the match.
なでしこのはなさきそむる夏の野にけふひぐらしのこゑかきこゆる
nadeshiko no hana sakisomuru natsu no no ni kyō higurashi no koe ka kikoyuru
The pinks In bloom have begun to be On the summer plains From today the sunset crickets’ Cries do I hear?
[iii] Given that Norihira would have been only six years old when this match was held, it is most likely that this reply was penned in his stead by his mother, Fujiwara no Yasuko (Anshi) 藤原安子 (927-964).
[iv] This poem is included in Fubokushō (IX: 3469) attributed to the ‘Seiryōden Junior Consort’ (Seiryōden nyōgo 清涼殿女御), with the headnote ‘Poetry Match held by Junior Consort Yoshiko (Hōshi) in the Fifth Month, Tenryaku 10’. It is now generally believed that the Fubokushō attribution is erroneous, and this was, instead, composed by Emperor Murakami.
miyagino no ko no shitakaze ya suginuran tsuyu ni okururu akihagi no hana
On Miyagi Plain has The breeze beneath the trees Passed by? For Missing the dewfall are The autumn bush clover blooms…
Takasuke 57
Right
物おもふやどの物とてながむれば露にをれふす庭の萩原
mono’omou yado no mono tote nagamureba tsuyu ni orefusu niwa no hagiwara
Sunk in gloomy thought is The one who dwells here, I feel, When I gaze upon, Broken and tangled among the dewdrops, The bush clover grove in the grounds…
Shimotsuke 58
The Left poem’s ‘Missing the dewfall are the autumn bush clover’ sounds pleasant. The Right poem has no faults either, yet the Left should win.
ima yori wa isogi mo yukaji irihi sasu noyama no hana zo nioimashikeru
More than this moment There seems no purpose in haste, as The setting sun shines The blossom in the mountain meadows Has a scent sublime.
Lord Tadamoto 22
[1] Ōe no Masasuke 大江盛佐. The identity of this individual remains uncertain, as he does not appear in the genealogy of the Ōe family. There was, however, a Fujiwara no Masasuke 藤原盛佐, who was appointed to the position of Senior Secretary of the Echizen province on the 23rd day of the First Month Kōji 康治 1 [10.2.1142], some forty years after this contest was held. The title used for Masasuke here, Student of Law (myōbōshō 明法生) indicates that he was enrolled in the Law department of the imperial university (daigakuryō 大学寮) at the time, and so would have been a young man. It is possible that for a minor noble it could take decades to gain an appointment to a provincial administration, so it is possible that this is Fujiwara no Masasuke, but this remains speculation. In any case this is his sole poem in a poetry competition.
