Round Nine

Left

すみのえのこほりとみゆる月かげにとけやしぬらむかみのこころも

suminoe no kōri to miyuru tsukikage ni toke ya shinuramu kami no kokoro mo

At Suminoe As ice appears The moonlight, but Is not, perhaps, melted Even the deity’s heart?

Lord Fujiwara no Kinshige,
Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade,
Without Office
17

Right (Win)

すみよしのおまへのきしのまつのはもかずかくれなくみゆる月かげ

sumiyoshi no omae no kishi no matsu no ha mo kazu kakurenaku miyuru tsukikage

At Sumiyoshi On the coast before the shrine Even the pine needles Cannot hide their numbers, Appearing in the moonlight.

Venerable Dharma Eye Enjitsu
18

While in the Left ‘ice appears’ and ‘is not, perhaps, melted’ seem to have some kind of linkage, if we consider this as a Cathay-style poem saying ‘A chill night’s moon / Ice atop the swell’, then I would have preferred it to say ‘is, perhaps, bound’. An alternative version of this would, of course, be ‘A spring morn’s breeze / Ice on the eastern shore’ which could lead to ‘is not, perhaps, melted’, I think. The Right has ‘On the coast before the shrine / Even the pine needles’ and through this type of linkage expresses the brightness of the moon. While this type of smug-sounding expression also appeared in the round before last, the moon here does seem bright and so I can say that the Right wins.