Round Thirteen

Left

すみよしのあまくだりますまつのうへにそらよりかくる月のしらゆふ

sumiyoshi no amakudarimasu matsu no ue ni sora yori kakuru tsuki no shirayū

At Sumiyoshi Did the Deity descend from Heaven To the pines—upon them From the skies are hung The moon’s sacred streamers.

Kamo no Agatanushi Masahira
Kataoka Junior Assistant Priest[1]
25

Right (Win)

しめのうちにしらゆふかけぬひまぞなき月もたむけのこころありけり

shime no uchi ni shirayū kakenu hima zo naki tsuki mo tamuke no kokoro arikeri

Within the holy precints Sacred streamers fail to hang In not a single spot— The moon to make an offering Is of a mind.

Lord Fujiwara no Chikashige
Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade,
Without Office[2]
26

While the poem of the Left’s ‘From the skies are hung’ and so forth seems charming, I do wonder about the idea of the ‘Deity descending from Heaven / To the pines’—it’s vague. The poem of the Right’s conception and configuration of ‘The moon to make an offering’ appears pleasant, and thus it wins.

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[1] Kataoka negi jūyon’ijō Kamo agatanushi Masahira 片岡禰宜従四位上賀茂県主政平

[2] San’i jūgoijō Fujiwara ason Chikashige 散位従五位上藤原朝臣親重