Round Twenty-One
Left (Win)
しがらきの外山の末の郭公たが里ちかき初音なるらん
| shigaraki no toyama no sue no hototogisu ta ga sato chikaki hatsune naruran | In Shigaraki At the foothills’ end A cuckoo By whose estate Might let out his first cry? |
Takasuke
41
Right
橘のにほひを空に尋ねきて山時鳥なかぬ日ぞなき
| tachibana no nioi o sora ni tazunekite yamahototogisu nakanu hi zo naki | Orange blossom’s familiar Scent within the skies I seek out, while The mountain cuckoo Fails to sing on not a single day… |
Shimotsuke
42
The Left poem’s ‘near whose estate does it first call’ does not sound bad. The Right’s poem, too, seems to have no faults to mention, yet the Left still wins by a hair.
Topics
| Cherry | Cuckoos | Moon | Snow | Felicitations |
Poets
| Left | Right |
| Lord Dainagon [Kōkaku] | Lord Chūnagon [Kyōen] |
| Lord Saburō | Ushigimi |
| Retired from the world on Mount Uji [Eien] | Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer [Kakuyo] |
| Cell of the Fragrant Elephant [Shin’ei] | Cell of the Everlasting Truth [Tanshū] |
| Controller’s Graduate [Shinkei] | Kerin’in Graduate [Yūzen] |
| Cell of Fragrant Cloud [Shōchō] | Cell of Compassionate Light [Sōen] |
| Lady Kazusa | Lady Shikibu |
Judge
Mototoshi
Former Director of the Bureau of Carpentry, Toshiyori[i]
Cherry
Round One
Left
みやまにはしひがかざをれはやけれどふもとのはなはことしさくめり
| miyama ni wa shii ga kaza’ore hayakeredo fumoto no hana wa kotoshi sakumeri | Deep within the mountains, Brushwood is broken by the wind So swiftly, yet In the foothills the blossom Will bloom this year, it seems.[ii] |
Lord Dainagon
1
Right
ちるはなをさそふとみつるはる風のうはのそらにもすててけるかな
| chiru hana o sasou to mitsuru harukaze no uwa no sora ni mo sutetekeru kana | The scattered blossoms Look to be beckoned by The spring breezes, Even high up in the skies To be abandoned! |
Lord Chūnagon
2
I would say there’s no reason to say that the poem of the Left is superb, yet it does have a little bit of interest. The poem of the Right’s ‘Even high up in the skies /To be abandoned!’ completely fails to exceed vulgar diction. Thus, I make the Left the winner.
The poem of the Left’s ‘Brushwood is broken by the wind’ and so forth cannot be called ordinary and is an extremely charming use of diction. However, if the branches are broken and lost, then it would appear difficult for them to bloom, yet the addition of ‘yet’ to ‘swiftly’ gives the impression that there are branches remaining, thus following this with ‘Will bloom this year, it seems’ appears clumsy.
The poem of the Right has nothing remarkable about it, and no particular errors. Even so, because except in exceptional circumstances, the Left must win the first round, I make the Left the winner.
[i] This match was initially judged by Fujiwara no Mototoshi, but at some point after this, one of the participants, Sōen, submitted an ‘Appeal’ (chinjō) claiming these were unfair, and Toshiyori was asked to re-judge the match. The result is that there are two manuscript traditions for this event, one with Mototoshi’s judgements and one with Toshiyori’s. I am including both sets of judgements here.
[ii] The end of winter-beginning of the Twelfth Month. みやまにははやまのあらしあらげなりしひのかざをれいくそかかれり miyama ni wa / hayama no arashi / aragenari / shii no kaza’ore / ikuso kakareri ‘Deep within the mountains / Across the timber slopes the storm wind / Rages; / Brushwood is broken by the wind / O’er countless tens of trees.’ Sone no Yoshitada (Yoshitada-shū 342)
Mist
Left (Tie)
うすしともみゆるものからさほやまのみねのあきぎりあきたちにけり
| usushi to mo miyuru mono kara saoyama no mine no akigiri aki tachinikeri | Faint Does it appear, so with Mount Sao’s Peak in autumn mists Autumn has come! |
Taira no Tōmi
13
Right
あさぎりはたつともみえずいとどしきをぐらのやまのふもととおもへば
| asagiri wa tatsu mo miezu itodoshiki ogura no yama no fumoto to omoeba | The morning mists Arise, and hidden Even more are Gloomy Mount Ogura’s Foothills… |
Taira no Sanenao
14
Original
きみしなほかくしかよはばいそのかみふるきみやこもふりじとぞおもふ
| kimi shi nao kaku shi kayowaba isonokami furuki miyako mo furiji to zo omou | O, my Lady, Should you thus ever visit Isonokami, where at Furu, the ancient capital, too, Never stales, I feel![1] |
Mitsune
22
Left (Win)
かよふともしられじものをふるさとはかすがのやまのふもとならねば
| kayou tomo shirareji mono o furusato wa kasuga no yama no fumoto naraneba | To ever visit there is something Folk might not know, for The ancient capital Among Kasuga Mountain’s Foothills does not lie… |
23
Right
はるごとにきてはみるともいそのかみふりにしさとのなにはかはらじ
| haru goto ni kite wa miru tomo isonokami furinishi sato no nani wa kawaraji | Every single spring I come to gaze, yet At Isonokami, Furu’s ancient capital Does nothing ever change? |
24
[1] A variant of this poem occurs in Mitsune’s personal collection: When the Priestly Emperor’s Rokujō Lady of the Bedchamber visited Kasuga, I met and conversed with Lord Tadafusa, the Governor of Yamato, and he mentioned that he had been asked to compose eight quality poems in the name of his province, so I sent him two of my own. The date was the 7th day of the Third Month, Engi 21 [17.4.921]. きくになほかくしかよはばいそのかみふるきみやこもふりしとぞおもふ kiku ni nao / kaku shi kayowaba / isonokami / furuki Miyako mo / furishi to zo omou ‘O, I hear that / Should you ever thus visit / Isonokami, where at / Furu, the ancient capital, too, / Has grown old, I feel.’(Mitsune-shū 323)
Round Sixteen
Left
桜さく吉野の山の山風にふもとをこめて花にほふらし
| sakura saku yoshino no yama no yamakaze ni fumoto o komete hana niourashi | Cherries bloom In the mountains of Yoshino, where The mountain breezes Make even the foothills Aglow with blossom. |
Tomoshige
31
Right (Win)
花の色はあまりにけりなつくばねのこのもかのもにかかる白雲
| hana no iro wa amarinikeri na tsukubane no kono mo kano mo ni kakaru shirakumo | The blossoms’ hues Have overflowed[1] The peak of Tsukuba— Near and far, both, Draped with clouds of white.[2] |
Dharma Master Zenshin
32
The Left’s poem has no faults worth mentioning and, furthermore, is not particularly remarkable. The Right’s poem refers to the peak of Tsukuba; while this is generally thought of as a mountain, it is not necessarily limited to mountains and there are, I think, a bunch of instances where it means a place with lots of trees; however, because here it also conveys the conception of mountains, from the use of pleasant poetic technique, the Right should win.
[1] Zenshin is clearly referencing Ono no Komachi’s famous: Topic unknown. 花の色はうつりにけりないたづらにわが身世にふるながめせしまに hana no iro wa / utsurinikeri na / itazura ni / wa ga mi yo ni furu / nagame seshi ma ni ‘The blossoms’ hues / Have already faded away, / While in idle thoughts / My life goes by, / As I watch the long rains fall.’ (KKS II: 113).
[2] An allusive variation on: Eastern poem: a poem from Hitachi. 筑波嶺のこのもかのもに影はあれど君がみかげにます陰はなし tsukuba ne no / kono mo kano mo ni / kage aredo / kimi ga mikage ni / masu kage wa nashi ‘On the peak of Tsukuba / Here and there / Lie shadows, yet / To your shadow, my love (my Lord) / They cannot compare!’ Anonymous (KKS XX: 1095).
Composed on the conception of falling leaves.
たつた山ふもとの里はとほけれどあらしのつてにもみぢをぞみる
| tatutayama Fumoto no sato Fa toFokeredo arasi no tute ni momidi wo zo miru | Tatsuta Mountain From this estate in the foothills Lies far away, yet The storm wind’s actions mean I see scarlet leaves! |
Hōribe no Narinaka
Round Nine
Left
川ぎりのふもとをこめて立ちぬれば空にぞ秋の山はみえける
| kawagiri no fumoto o komete tachinureba sora ni zo aki no yama wa miekeru | The river mists Around the foothills Have risen, so ‘Tis in the skies that autumn On the mountains is revealed. |
Fukayabu
17
Right
年毎の紅葉ばながす立田川みなとや秋のとまりなるらん
| toshigoto no momijiba nagasu tatsutagawa minato ya aki no tomari naruran | Every single year Scarlet leaves wash down The Tatsuta River; Is it at the mouth that autumn Might find its port? |
18
