Poetry Contest held at the House of the Captain of the Middle Palace Guards, Right Division
Alternative Title(s)
右兵衛督実行歌合 Uhyōe no kami saneyuki uta’awase (‘Poetry Contest held by Saneyuki, Captain of the Middle Palace Guards, Right Division’)
Date
29/6/Gen’ei 1 [19.7.1118]
Extant Poems
30
Sponsor
Fujiwara no Saneyuki 藤原実行
Identifiable Participants
Lord [Minamoto no] Toshiyori 俊頼朝臣; A Court Lady 女房 [Fujiwara no Saneyuki]; Lord [Tokudaiji] Saneyoshi 実能朝臣 (1096-1157); Lord [Fujiwara no] Nagazane 長実朝臣; [Lady] Bizen 肥前 ; [Lady] Daishin 大進; Tachibana no Atsutaka 橘敦隆; the Monk Rinken 琳賢法師 (1074-1150); Master of the Palace Repairs Office [Fujiwara no Akisue] 修理大夫; Tamekane, the Former Emperor’s Chamberlain 為真院蔵人; Inaba 因幡; Lord [Minamoto no] Masasada 雅定朝臣; Lord [Minamoto no] Akinaka 顕仲朝臣; [Fujiwara no] Michitsune 道経; 行宗朝臣; the Monk Yōen 永縁法師 (1048-1125); Lord [Fujiwara no] Akisuke 顕輔朝臣; [Lady] Tango, from the Shijō Palace 四条宮丹後; Tsunekane 経兼
Judgements
Fujiwara no Akisue 藤原顕季 (1055-1123)
Topics
summer moon (natsu no tsuki 夏月); summer breezes (natsu no kaze 夏風); cormorant fishing on the river (ukawa 鵜河); summer love (natsu no koi 夏恋); love and spring waters (izumi ni yoru koi 寄泉恋)
Poetry Contest held at the House of the New Middle Captain
Alternative Title(s)
右近衛中将雅定歌合 Ukonoe chūjō masasada uta’awase (‘Poetry Contest held by Masasada, Middle Captain of the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division’)
Date
5/Gen’ei 1 [5.1118]
Extant Poems
36
Sponsor
Minamoto no Masasada 源雅定 (1094-1162)
Identifiable Participants
Master of the Palace Repairs Office [Fujiwara no] Akisue 修理大夫顕季 (1055-1123); Master of the Left Capital Office [Minamoto no] Akinaka 左京大夫顕仲 (1058-1138); Director of Palace Storehouses [Fujiwara no] Nagazane 内蔵頭長実 (1075-1133); Captain of the Middle Palace Guards, Right Division, [Sanjō] Saneyuki 右兵衛督実行 (1080-1162); Middle Captain of the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division, [Minamoto no] Morotoki 右近中将師時 (1077-1136); Middle Captain of the Inner Palace Guards, Right Division, [Minamoto no] Masasada 右近中将雅定; Governor of Kaga [Fujiwara no] Akisuke 賀加守顕輔 (1090-1155); Former Director of Carpentry [Minamoto no] Toshiyori 前木工頭俊頼; Former Assistant Captain of the Middle Palace Guards Akinaka 前兵衛佐顕仲; Right Minor Counsellor [Fujiwara no] Munekane 右小納言宗兼; Ranked without Office, [Fujiwara no] Michitsune 散位道経 (1060-?); Ranked without Office, Tadafusa 散位忠房; Former Governor of Izumi 和泉前司
Judgements
N
Topics
cuckoos (hototogisu 郭公); showers (samidare 五月雨); love (koi 恋)
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.