Original

こまなべてきみがみにくるかすがのはまつかさしげしあめにさはるな

koma nabete kimi ga mi ni kuru kasugano wa matsukasa shigeshi ame ni sawaru na

Mounts aligned, My Lord has come to see Kasuga Plain, where The plentiful pinecones mean He’ll be untroubled by rain!

43

Left (Win)

ぬれつつもあめにはゆかむまつかさのちとせのはるをもらさざらなむ

nuretsutsu mo ame ni wa yukamu matsukasa no chitose no haru o morasazaranamu

Even dampened By the rain, let us go! For the pinecones Over a thousand years of springtimes Will surely not allow a single drip!

44[1]

Right

かすがののまつかさだにもなかりせばあめふるさとにわれこましやは

kasugano no matsukasa dani mo nakariseba ame furu sato ni ware komashi ya wa

If on Kasuga Plain Even pinecones Were there not, then, To the rainswept ancient capital Why would I come at all?

45

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[1] This poem is included in Ise-shū (107) with the headnote ‘From the time of the Kasuga Poetry Match’, implying that this is Ise’s work, even if she is not identified as the poet in the text here.