あし曳のやまほととぎすみ山いでてよぶかき月のかげになくなり
ashihiki no yama hototogisu miyama idete yobukaki tsuki no kage ni naku nari | Leg-wearying The mountain cuckoo Emerges from the mountains’ heart and, Deep within the night the moon’s Light shines upon his song! |

Round Twelve
Left
うつり行く花の下道跡もなしながめも白き春の山風
utsuriyuku hana no shita michi ato mo nashi nagame mo shiroki haru no yamakaze | The shifting Blossom on the paths beneath Leaves no footprints there; My gaze with whiteness filled By spring’s breezes in the mountains. |
Dōchin
23
Right (Win)
身にかへておもふもくるし桜花さかぬみ山に宿もとめてん
mi ni kaete omou mo kurushi sakurabana sakanu miyama ni yado mo tometen | It should be me instead, I think, but even that brings pain; Where cherry blossoms Fail to bloom, deep within the mountains Should I make my home. |
Dharma Master Nyokan
24
The Left’s poem does not sound poor, but has ‘gaze with whiteness’—a long time ago, Lay Priest Toshinari repeatedly said that it is not appropriate to compose about looking at something specific using ‘gaze’. The initial and concluding section of the Right’s poem sound fine—it should win.
Left
まてといひてとまらぬあきと知りながらそらゆく月のをしくもあるかな
mate to iite tomaranu aki to shirinagara sora yuku tsuki no oshiku aru kana | ‘Wait!’ I say, but Autumn will not linger I know, so The moon passing through the skies Fills me with regret! |
31
Right
みやまなるもみぢのにしき色にいでてをしむに秋のたたばうからん
miyama naru momiji no nishiki iro ni idete oshimu ni aki no tataba ukaran | Deep within the mountains The scarlet leaves in brocade’s Hues stand out, so I would regret it were autumn Cut short—how heartless that would be! |
32
Summer
Five poems on the Fourth Month
Left (Win)
みやまいでてまづはつこゑはほととぎすよぶかくまたむわがやどになけ
miyama idete mazu hatsukoe wa hototogisu yobu kaku matamu wa ga yado ni nake | Emerging from the mountains deep, Early, your first call, Cuckoo— Where I would be waiting all night long At my house, o, sing out! |
Masakata[i]
41
Right
けふよりはなつのころもになりぬれどきるひとさへはかはらざりけり
kyō yori wa natsu no koromo ni narinuredo kiru hito sae wa kawarazarikeri | From today Summer garb We have put on, yet The folk who wear it Have not changed at all. |
Mitsune
42
‘The Right is uninteresting,’ so it lost.
[i] Minamoto no Masakata 源雅固 (dates unknown). A son of Minamoto no Sada’ari 源定有 (dates unknown), one of the sons of Emperor Montoku (827-858; r. 850-858).
Evergreens
ちりかはる心なけれどみやまぎのときはは秋もしられざりけり
chirikawaru kokoro nakeredo miyamagi no tokiwa wa aki mo shirarezarikeri | A flighty Heart, has it not, yet Deep within the mountains, that the trees Are evergreen, even the autumn Seems not to know… |
19
Gentian
した草の花をみつればむらさきに秋さへふかくなりにけるかな
shitagusa no hana o mitsureba murasaki ni aki sae fukaku narinikeru kana | When in the undergrowth Flowers I do see, their Violet in Autum much deeper Has become! |
20
Left
雪のうちのみやまからこそおいはくれかしらのしろく成るをまづみよ
yuki no uchi no miyama kara koso oi wa kure kashira no shiroku naru o mazu miyo | Within the snows From the mountains deep, O, come, old age! My head to white Is turned—see that first! |
149
Right
松の上にかかれる雪はよそにして時まどはせる花とこそみれ
matsu no ue ni kakareru yuki wa yoso ni shite toki madowaseru hana to koso mire | Upon the pine trees Clings snow: From afar, The season has led astry The blossom, it does appear! |
150
From when he presented a hundred poem sequence.
さゝの葉はみ山もさやにうちそよぎこほれる霜を吹嵐かな
sasa no ha wa miyama mo saya ni uchisoyogi koreru shimo o fuku arashi kana |
The bamboo grass leaves On Miyama clearly Rustle: The frozen frost Blown by the storm, perhaps? |
The Regent and Grand Minister [Fujiwara no Yoshitsune] (1169 – 1206)
藤原良経