13^th day of the Tenth Month Engi 13,[i] Junior Metal Snake.[ii]

On this day, His Majesty instructed the gentlemen in attendance in the Courtier’s Hall[iii] to prepare a chrysanthemum each, arranged them into two teams, and judged which were superior or inferior. I don’t know who all of these were, but all of the participants entered at the Hour of the Monkey, bringing their assigned flowers. The first team entered via the Gate of Everlasting Blossom,[iv] and the second team entered via the Waterfall Door.[v] They proceeded in order, bearing their flowers in vases into the garden. The first team placed their flowers on a display made of stone to resemble an island in a stream. The second team planted their flowers in a wooden brazier.[vi] Two gentlemen from the Chamberlain’s Office, one for each team, presented the blooms to His Majesty. Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, Left Division, Lord Fujiwara no Sadakata was ordered to present himself before His Majesty, and hear the wins and losses for the ten rounds. The first team[vii] won twice and those who had already won performed a dance of thanks in the garden. Four of the various chrysanthemums which had been selected and presented were planted afterwards on the western side of the small garden to the south of the Courtier’s Hall.

On the 9^th day of the Twelfth Month, the Gentlemen of the second team were ordered to present the losing blooms. Chrysanthemums sometimes lost. These things should have been presented in the archery ground, but were presented directly in error, because Captain of the Outer Palace Guards, Left Division Sadakata and Supernumerary Middle Counsellor Kiyotsura had been drinking wine and left the Attendants’ Office in the early evening.

[i] This date equates to 13^th November 913.

[ii] Kanoto no mi 辛巳. This identified the year within a 240-year cycle designated by a combination of Sinitic elemental and calendrical animal signs. See Miner, Odagiri, and Morrell (1985, 407) for a brief explanation.

[iii] Tenjō no ma 殿上間: a room in the palace used by the emperor to conduct his daily business to which only men of the fourth or fifth rank, or higher were generally admitted, unless they were specifically designated as imperial attendants. See McCullough and McCullough (1980, 791) for more information.

[iv] Senkamon 仙華門: located on the north-west side of the Shishinden 紫宸殿, the main building of the palace complex, it connected to the emperor’s personal quarters in the Seiryōden  清涼殿.

[v] Takiguchi 滝口: this gained its name as it was the location from which the stream which flowed through the palace gardens (mikawamizu 御溝水) emerged. It was north-east of the Seiryōden near where the imperial bodyguards were housed, which led to Takiguchi being adopted as a sobriquet for them.

[vi] Hioke 火桶: these were made of a hollowed logs of timber, such as paulownia, and lined with copper, while their outer surface was often decorated with bright colours.

[vii] The Left: that the teams are referred to by number, rather than position, is another unusual feature of this match.

This is an historically significant contest, more for the nature of its organisation and performance than for the quality of the poems produced by the participants. Hagitani (1957, 198–199) argues, based on the match’s preface (below) that this was an event organised by Emperor Daigo at short notice—hence the ad hoc nature of the suhama, and thus the poems were composed on an impromptu basis while the match was taking place. That is, they were not compositions which the participants had an opportunity to spend a great deal of time over. Given this, the judgements, most likely, relate to the quality and beauty of the chrysanthemums, rather than the poetry, making this a clear example of a mono’awase (‘things match’) where the poetry was simply present to provide an additional entertaining element to the activities. A further feature of this event is that, while the preface refers by name to a number of nobles responsible for the selection and presentation of the chrysanthemums, these individuals were not responsible for the composition of the poetry. If the poetry was composed ‘on-the-spot’, then this means that both lower-ranking poets and more senior nobles must have been present, making this an occasion when the social hierarchy was less-rigidly observed than normal.