足ひきのやまとびこゆる秋のかりいくへの霧をしのぎきぬらん
ashihiki no yama tobikoyuru aki no kari ikue no kiri o shinogikinuran | Across the leg-wearying Mountains fly The autumn geese: How many misty layers Must they have broken through? |

Bush clover at the roadside.
みちのべのをのの夕霧たちかへりみてこそゆかめ秋はぎの花
michi no be no ono no yūgiri tachikaeri mite koso yukame akihagi no hana | By the roadside Across the meadows evening mists Rise and fall endlessly; Thus would I go and see The autumn bush clover blooms.[1] |
[1] An allusive variation on: For a poetry competition held in the Tenryaku era. 春ふかみゐてのかは浪たちかへり見てこそゆかめ山吹の花 haru fukami / ide no kawanami / tachikaeri / mite koso yukame / yamabuki no hana ‘In the depths of spring / Waves on the river at Idé / Rise and fall endlessly; / Thus would I go and see / The kerria blooms…’ Minamoto no Shitagō (SIS I: 68).
Composed when I was in one of the aisles of the Shōchōjuin on the night of the 14th of the Seventh Month, and the moon was shining in.
ながめやる軒のしのぶの露の間にいたくなふけそ秋のよの月
nagameyaru noki no shinobu no tsuyu no ma ni itaku na fuke so aki no yo no tsuki | Gazing out upon The ferns beneath the eaves, In the space between the dewdrops, Do not set so, O, moon, this autumn night! |
Round Eleven
Left (Win)
をしみかねあかぬ名残のくるしきに入るまではみじ秋のよの月
oshimikane akanu nagori no kurushiki ni iru made wa miji aki no yo no tsuki | Unbearable regret, Unending is a memento Most painful— I would not watch until it sets: The moon this autumn night. |
Kenshō
69
Right
月影のかたぶくかたにさしいればやどのうちにも霜ぞ置きける
tsukigage no katabuku kata ni sashi’ireba yado no uchi ni mo shimo zo okikeru | The moonlight as It descends Shines in, so Within my lodging Frost, indeed, has fallen. |
Lord Yorisuke
70
The Left, saying that the setting of the moon is a painful memento, and thus not watching it until the end seems excessively topsy-turvy. The Right, saying that the setting moon enters one’s lodging, is both pretentious and misses the point—surely it depends on the construction of the house! This shows know knowledge of how diction should be used, so the Left has to win.