Round Twenty-One

Left

ひさかたの月もひかりをやはらげてしめのうちにはすむにやあるらむ

hisakata no tsuki mo hikari o yawaragete shime no uchi ni wa sumu ni ya aruramu

The eternal Moon, too, his light Has softened, that Within the sacred grounds Should be more clear, perhaps?

Lord Fujiwara no Asamune
Supernumerary Governor of Suruga
Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade[1]
41

Right (Win)

月かげをゆきかとみればすみよしのあけのたまがきいろもかくれず

tsukikage o yuki ka to mireba sumiyoshi no ake no tamagaki iro mo kakurezu

When, upon the moonlight, I looked and wondered if ‘twas snow, At Sumiyoshi The vermillion jewelled fences’ Hues were not concealed at all.

Lord Fujiwara no Kanetsuna
Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade
Without Office[2]
42

The Left’s ‘Moon, too, his light / Has softened’ and so forth seems a charming configuration, but it is unclear from this whether the moon is shining more gently within the sacred grounds. Although I do wonder about the sound of beginning with ‘I looked and wondered if ‘twas snow’ and abruptly ending with ‘Hues were not concealed at all’, the conception seems clearly expressed in the diction and so I make the Right the winner.

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[1] Suruga gonkami jūgoige Fujiwara ason Asamune駿河権守従五位下藤原朝臣朝宗

[2] San’i jūgoige Fujiwara ason Kanetsuna 散位従五位下藤原朝臣懐綱