Left

なつの夜は水やまされる天の河ながるる月のかげもとどめぬ

natsu no yo wa mizu ya masareru ama no kawa nagaruru tsuki no kage mo todomenu

On a summer night Is it that the waters are so fine Of the River of Heaven? Drifting, the moon’s Face, too, tarries not.

61[1]

Right

去年の夏鳴きふるしてし郭公それかあらぬかこゑのかはらぬ

kozo no natsu nakifurusiteshi hototogisu sore ka aranu ka koe no kawaranu

Last summer Did you sing as if there’d be no other, O, cuckoo; Is it you, or another, For your song is quite unchanged.

62[2]

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[1] A minor variant of this poem, with a headnote identifying it as being from this contest, is included in Shokugosenshū (IV: 214): 夏の夜は水まさればやあまのがはながるる月のかげもとどめぬ natsu no yo wa / mizu masareba ya / ama no kawa / nagaruru tsuki no / kage mo todomenu ‘On a summer night / Perhaps, because the waters are so fine / Of the River of Heaven? / Drifting, the moon’s / Face, too, tarries not.’

[2] Kokinshū III: 159/Shinsen man’yōshū 63