Composed when he composed a large number of poems about the moon.
さざなみや国つみかみのうらさびてふるき宮こに月ひとりすむ
| sazanami ya kunitumikami no urasabite Furuki miyako ni tuki Fitori sumu | Wavelets have washed The guardian god Chilling his heart, for At the ancient capital The solitary moon shines clear. |
The Hosshōji Lay Priest and Former Chancellor and Palace Minister
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]
Left (Win)
さざ浪や志賀津の海士になりにけりみるめはなくて袖のしほるる
| sazanami ya shigatsu no ama ni narinikeri mirume wa nakute sode no shioruru | Rocked by wavelets A fisherman at Shiga Bay Have I become! Glimpsing no seaweed, How my sleeves are soaked… |
Lord Suetsune
1171
Right
伊勢の海の底までかづく海人なれやみるめに人を思ふ心は
| ise no umi no soko made kazuku ama nare ya mirume ni hito o omou kokoro wa | At Ise, to the sea Bed dive Fisher-girls: Am I one, too? A seaweed-tangled glimpse of you Lodging in my heart… |
Jakuren
1172
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Left state: neither beginning nor end is sufficiently forcefully expressed.
In judgement: the conception and configuration of the Left’s ‘fisherman at Shiga Bay’ (shigatsu no ama) certainly seem splendid. That is really all there is to say about this poem. To make a deliberate point of seeking out elements which sound difficult is a pointless activity for the Way of Poetry and an individual poet. As for the Right’s poem, diving ‘to the sea bed’ (soko made) is just something that fisher-girls do. The Left must win.
Left (Tie).
もろ聲にいたくな鳴きそさもこそはうき沼の池のかはづ成とも
| morogoe ni itaku na naki so samo koso wa ukinu no ike no kawazu naritomo |
O, that in such a chorus They would not sing! However much A swamp the pond of Frogs may be! |
167
Right (Tie).
夜とゝもに浪の下にて鳴くかはづ何ゆへ深き恨みなるらん
| yo to tomo ni nami no shita nite naku kawazu nani yue fukaki urami naruran |
With nightfall from Beneath the wavelets Call the frogs; For what are such depths Of despair… |
168
Once again, neither team has anything special to say this round.
Shunzei’s judgement is, ‘Both poems are similar in expression, mentioning “frogs” (kawazu), “swamp” (ukinu) and “depths of despair” (fukaki urami). The round should tie.’
Left (Win).
雨そゝく池の浮草風こえて浪と露とにかはづ鳴くなり
| ame sosoku ike no ukikusa kaze koete nami to tsuyu to ni kawazu nakunari |
Rain drifts down Upon the duckweed in the pond, Driven by the wind Among wavelets and dewfall The frogs are calling. |
165
Right.
庭の面はひとつに見ゆる浮草をこゝぞ汀とかはづ鳴なり
| niwa no omo wa hitotsu ni miyuru ukikusa o koko zo migiwa to kawazu nakunari |
The garden’s face Seems as one With the duckweed; ‘Here lies the water’s edge,’ The frogs are calling… |
166
Neither Right nor Left has any particular remarks to make about the other’s poem this round.
Shunzei says, ‘Both poems are splendid in form, but the Left’s ‘among the wavelets and dewfall’ (nami to tsuyu to ni) is particularly pleasing. It must win.
During the reign of Retired Emperor Horikawa, when he offered a hundred poem sequence, he composed this in the conception of the beginning of Spring.
こほりゐし志賀の唐崎うちとけてさゞ波よする春風ぞふく
| koFori wisi siga no karasaki utitokete sazanami yosuru Faru kaze zo Fuku |
Once ice-locked, Around Kara Cape in Shiga There is a melting and The wavelets lap With the blowing breeze of Spring. |
Minister of the Treasury [Ōe no] Masafusa