Geese before the moon
九重の雲ゐをわけて久かたの月の宮こに雁ぞ鳴くなる
| kokonoe no kumoi o wakete hisakata no tsuki no miyako ni kari zo nakunaru | Ninefold, The clouds are parted, and Around the eternal Lunar capital Goose cries sound. |

Original
やへたてるみかさのやまのしらくもはみゆきさぶらふさくらなりけり
| yae tateru mikasa no yama no shirakumo wa miyuki saburau sakura narikeri | Standing eightfold high above Mikasa Mountain, The clouds of white, In service to the excursion Are cherries. |
7
Left (Win)
よそにてもきみしみつれば山ざくらこころやすくやいまはちるらむ
| yoso nite mo kimi shi mitsureba yamazakura kokoro yasuku ya ima wa chiruramu | Seen from afar, and Even by my Lady, do The mountain cherries Contentedly Seem to scatter now? |
8
Right
やへたてるくもゐに見えしさくらばなかへるたむけにけふやちるらん
| yae tateru kumoi ni mieshi sakurabana kaeru tamuke ni kyō ya chiruran | Standing eightfold high Among the clouds, I seemed to see Cherry blossoms, As a memento of our return Seeming to scatter today. |
9



Moon
Round One
Left (Tie)
月きよみながむる人の心さへ雲井にすめる秋の夜はかな
| tsuki kiyomi nagamuru hito no kokoro sae kumoi ni sumeru aki no yowa kana | The moon, so pure, that Gazing folk feel Their very hearts Clearly in the heavens On an autumn midnight! |
Lord Shige’ie
49
Right
のこるべきかきねの雪は先消えてほかはつもるとみゆる月かな
| nokorubeki kakine no yuki wa mazu kiete hoka wa tsumoru to miyuru tsuki kana | It should be lingering On my brushwood fence, but the snow First vanishes, then Piling up elsewhere Appears moonlight! |
Lord Yorimasa
50
The Left seems extremely commonplace, and simply ending ‘autumn midnight’ feels incomplete. As for the Right, what does it mean to say that ‘the snow upon my brushwood fence first vanishes’? Might it mean that because of the fence’s shadow, the moon’s light cannot be seen? It really sounds as if the poet has gone too far in his quest for unusual expressions. Then there’s ‘piling up elsewhere’ along with ‘autumn midnight’—neither of these sound superior, so it’s impossible to say which poem is.




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
