aware to ya kami mo omowamu suminoe no fukaku tanomi o kakuru mi nareba
‘How sad,’ does The God, too, think? For at Suminoe Deep in devotions Am I entangled…
Lord Tsunemori 105
Right
たのみつるこのひとむらの人ごとにちとせをゆづれすみよしのまつ
tanomitsuru kono hitomura no hito goto ni chitose o yuzure sumiyoshi no matsu
Devoted are This group of folk, so To each and every one Grant a thousand years, O, pines of Sumiyoshi!
Lord Yorisuke 106
The poem of the Left, saying ‘deep in devotions’ and suchlike, is pleasant, I have to say. Does the poem of the Right’s ‘this group of folk’ refer to the current poets or to the speaker’s own household? Well, whichever it is, the conception of devotion does not appear to be slight, but again I say this is a tie.
kasugano no matsukasa dani mo nakariseba ame furu sato ni ware komashi ya wa
If on Kasuga Plain Even pinecones Were there not, then, To the rainswept ancient capital Why would I come at all?
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[1] This poem is included in Ise-shū (107) with the headnote ‘From the time of the Kasuga Poetry Match’, implying that this is Ise’s work, even if she is not identified as the poet in the text here.
Composed at the Kameyama mansion, in the Eighth Month, Kenji 2 [September 1276], when the first topic announced was ‘the colour of pines floating on a pond’.
池水に松のちとせをうつしても君にふたたびあふがうれしさ
ikemizu ni matsu no chitose o utsushitemo kimi ni futatabi au ga ureshiki
In the pond waters The pine’s thousand years Are reflected, yet Once more, my Lord, To meet you brings me joy!
