The Day of the Rat (ne no hi 子日)
Left
ほのぼのとみねのひのまづさしつればむすばぬはるのゆきぞとけける
honobono to mine no hi no mazu sashitsureba musubanu haru no yuki zo tokekeru | Faintly, Upon the peaks the sun first Shines, then Not fully frozen, the spring Snow melts. |
Tsurayuki
1
Right (Win)
かたこひをするがのふじのやまよりもむねのひのまづもえまさるかな
katakoi o suruga no fuji no yama yori mo mune no hi no mazu moemasaru kana | In love and unrequited, More than Suruga’s Fuji Mountain does The fire in my breast, first Burn all the greater! |
Tomonori
2
Sent to the place where a lady, who was going somewhere far away, was preparing for departure.
思ひやる心ばかりはさはらじを何へだつらん峰の白雲
omoFiyaru kokoro bakari Fa saFaradi o nani Fedaturan mine no sirakumo | The longing for you In my heart alone Should be no hindrance, but Why do you seem distant as The white clouds round the peaks? |
Tachibana no Naomoto
橘直幹
From the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds.
ima wa tote haru no ariake ni chiru hana ya tsuki ni mo oshiki mine no shirakumo | Is now the time—that In the spring dawn With the blossom scattering The moon, too, regrets leaving The white clouds round the peaks? |
Sanuki from the Nijō Palace
二条院讃岐
Left
足引の山のかけはし冬くればこほりのうへをよきぞかねつる
ashihiki no yama no kakehashi fuyu kureba kōri no ue o yoki zo kanetsuru | To the leg-wearying Mountain plankways, When the winter comes The ice atop them Is difficult to avoid! |
147
Right
ふゆくれば雪ふりつもる高きみね立つ白雲に見えまがふかな
fuyu kureba yuki furitsumoru takaki mine tatsu shirakumo ni miemagau kana | When the winter comes The snow fallen, piled high upon The lofty peaks With the rising clouds so white Is easy to confuse! |
148
Left
ほりておきし池は鏡とこほれども影にもみえぬ年ぞ経にける
horiteokishi ike wa kagami to kōredomo kage ni mo mienu toshi zo henikeru | All dug out The pond into a mirror Has frozen, yet Reflected, I cannot see The year gone by! |
127
Right
降る雪のつもれる峰は白雲のたちもさわがずをるかとぞみる
furu yuki no tsumoreru mine wa shirayuki no tachi mo sawagazu oru ka to zo miru | The falling snow Has drifted upon the peaks Whiteness Arrives without a rustle Making me wonder if it’s there at all… |
128
Round Ten
Left
千鳥啼くさほの川霧たちぬなり嶺の紅葉の色まさりけり
chidori naku sao no kawagiri tachinu nari mine no momiji no iro masarikeri | Plovers cry, as The mists from the Sao River Have risen; On the peaks the scarlet leaves’ Hues are fine, indeed. |
19
Right
This poem is missing from the surviving texts of the competition.
Round Six
Left
夏山のみねのこずゑのたかければなく郭公こゑかはるかな
natsuyama no mine no kozue no takakereba naku hototogisu koe kawaru kana | The summer mountain Peaks have treetops So high, that The crying cuckoo’s Calls stand for them. |
11
Right (Win)
おほあらきのもりの下草茂りあひてふかくも夏のなりにけるかな
ōaraki no mori no shitagusa moriaite fukaku mo natsu no narinikeru kana | In Ōaraki Forest the undergrowth Has grown so thick, that Deep summer is Surely here! |
Mitsune
12
Topic unknown.
さざなみや志賀のからさき風さえてひらのたかねに霰ふるなり
sazanami ya shiga no karasaki kaze saete hira no takane ni arare furunari | Wavelets wash Karasaki in Shiga, and The wind is chill, so On the high peaks of Hira The hail must be falling. |
The Hosshōji Lay Priest, former Chancellor and Palace Minister [Fujiwara no Tadamichi]
On summer trees, when His Majesty, the Former Emperor, ordered him to produce a thirty poem sequence.
虹のたつふもとの杉は雲にきえて峰よりはるるゆふだちのあめ
niji no tatsu fumoto no sugi wa kumo ni kiete mine yori haruru yūdachi no ame | A rainbow rises above Cedars in the foothills, Vanishing in the clouds Clearing from the peaks, With an evening shower of rain. |
Former Senior Assistant Governor General of Dazai Toshikane
Clouds 雲
まぢかくてめなれし身にもありふればとほざかり行くみねの白雲
majikakute menareshi mi ni mo arifureba tōzakariyuku mine no shirakumo | Close together and Familiar were we – that Is normal, when Growing ever distant are The white clouds o’er the peaks… |
Nakazane
'Simply moving and elegant'