On the 29^th day of the Eighth Month, Taiji 3,[i] Head of the Department of Shinto, His Excellency Akinaka gave a lecture before the Hirota Shrine, and various people from among his friends and relative met together in the same place.

Judge   Mototoshi, Former Assistant Captain in the Palace Guards, Left Division.

Personal Grievances and the Moon

Round One

Left　　　　　

難波江のあしまにやどる月みれば我が身ひとつも沈まざりけり

naniwae no ashima ni yadoru tsuki mireba wa ga mi hitotsu mo shizumazarikeri

When, at the inlet at Naniwa Between the reeds a’lodging The moon I see, My sorry self, alone, Is sunk in sadness, am I not?

Lord Akisuke, Former Governor of Mimasaka
1

Right

かがみ川影見る月にそこ澄みて沈むみくづのはづかしきかな

kagamigawa kage miru tsuki ni soko sumite shizumu mikuzu no hazukashiki kana

In the mirror of Kagami River, The shape, I see, of the moon Clear down to the bed of Sunken flotsam— How terrible that I am so!

His Excellency Akinaka, Head of the Department of Shintō
2

While both Left and Right show awareness of the conventions, I find it difficult to be beguiled more by coming to the realisation that ‘My sorry self, alone, / Is sunk in sadness, am I not’ on seeing the moon lodging between the reeds, than I am by the conception of the one who seems to have seen the moon over Mount Obasute[1], so I could say that it has a bit of conception about it at present.

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[1] Topic unknown. わが心なぐさめかねつさらしなやをばすて山にてる月を見て wa ga kokoro / nagusamekanetsu / sarashina ya / obasuteyama ni / teru tsuki o mite ‘My heart / Cannot be consoled— / In Sarashina / Above Mount Obasute / On seeing the shining moon…’ Anonymous (KKS XVII: 878)

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[i] 25 September 1128