かづらきやたかまのやまの時鳥雲ゐのよそに鳴きわたるなり
kazuragi ya takama no yama no hototogisu kumoi no yoso ni nakiwataru nari | In Kazuragi Upon Takama Mountain A cuckoo From within the distant clouds Calls out! |

Round Three
Left (Win)
春の夜のあくる霞の立田山これや神代の衣なるらん
haru no yo no akuru kasumi no tatsutayama kore ya kamiyo no koromo naruran | At a spring night’s Dawn the haze around Tatsuta Mountain— Is this how in the age of gods Raiment might have been? |
Supernumerary Major Counsellor Moto’ie
5
Right
朝霞雲居をかけて見わたせばいたりいたらぬ山の端もなし
asagasumi kumoi o kakete miwataseba itari itaranu yama no ha mo nashi | When, upon the morning haze Draping from the clouds, I turn my gaze, it Spread out, and fails to reach, Not a single mountain’s edge. |
Nobunari, Senior Third Rank
6
Both Left and Right are difficult to tell apart, yet the Left’s ‘clothing of the Age of Gods’ would seem to be superior.
For the place where Nunohiki Falls was painted, on a screen in the Saishō Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings.
久方のあまつをとめが夏衣雲井にさらすぬのびきのたき
hisakata no ama tsu otome ga natsugoromo kumoi ni sarasu nunohiki no taki | Eternal Heavenly maidens Their summer garb Rinsing among the clouds— The cataract at Nunohiki |
Lord Ari’ie
Composed for the Palace Poetry Match in Kanna 2[1].
秋の夜の月に心のあくがれて雲井に物をおもふ比かな
aki no yo no tuki ni kokoro no akugarete kumowi ni mono wo omoFu koro kana | On an autumn night The moon my heart Draws forth, and What lies beyond the clouds is The object of my thoughts then! |
Former Emperor Kazan
[1] The headnote here is erroneous, as the text of this contest records it as taking place in Kanna 1 [985].
Composed at the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Uji Former Grand Minister.
山ざくらさきそめしより久かたの雲井にみゆるたきのしらいと
yamazakura sakisomeshi yori hisakata no kumoi ni miyuru taki no shira’ito | Since the mountain cherries Have begun to bloom, The eternal Clouds seem Threaded with a waterfall of white. |
Lord Minamoto no Toshiyori
As a poem on blossom, when he presented a hundred poem sequence to Former Emperor Sutoku.
かづらきやたかまの山のさくら花雲井のよそにみてや過ぎなん
kaduragi ya takama no yama no sakurabana kumowi no yoso ni mite ya suginan | In Kazuragi On the peak of Takama are Cherry blossoms: Being beyond the clouds Should I overlook them? |
Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke
Composed by command on the topic of a distant view across the sea when His Majesty [Emperor Sutoku] was newly retired as emperor.
わたのはらこぎいでてみれば久方の雲井にまがふおきつしらなみ
wata no Fara kogi’idedete mireba Fisakata no kumowi ni magaFu oki tu siranami | When across the wide seascape On rowing out I turn my gaze The eternal Clouds are tangled with The whitecaps in the offing.[i] |
The Former Chancellor and Palace Minister
[i] An allusive variation on Omuro gojisshu 601.
Poems on the beginning of spring
九重の雲ゐに春ぞ立ちぬらしおほうちやまに霞たなびく
kokonoe no kumoi ni haru zo tachinurashi ōuchiyama ni kasumi tanabiku | In ninefold layers of Cloud does springtime Seem to rise; Across Ōuchi Mountain[i] Trails haze. |
2
[i] Ōuchi Mountain (ōuchiyama 大内山) lies to the north of the Ninnaji 仁和寺 temple in the north-west of Kyoto, and was the site of a detached palace belonging to Emperor Uda 宇多 (866-931; r. 887-897).