On the 29th day of the Eighth Month, Taiji 3,[i] Head of the Department of Shinto, His Excellency Akinaka gave a lecture before the Hirota Shrine, and various people from among his friends and relative met together in the same place.
Judge Mototoshi, Former Assistant Captain in the Palace Guards, Left Division.
Personal Grievances and the Moon
Round One
Left
難波江のあしまにやどる月みれば我が身ひとつも沈まざりけり
naniwae no ashima ni yadoru tsuki mireba wa ga mi hitotsu mo shizumazarikeri
When, at the inlet at Naniwa Between the reeds a’lodging The moon I see, My sorry self, alone, Is sunk in sadness, am I not?
Lord Akisuke, Former Governor of Mimasaka 1
Right
かがみ川影見る月にそこ澄みて沈むみくづのはづかしきかな
kagamigawa kage miru tsuki ni soko sumite shizumu mikuzu no hazukashiki kana
In the mirror of Kagami River, The shape, I see, of the moon Clear down to the bed of Sunken flotsam— How terrible that I am so!
His Excellency Akinaka, Head of the Department of Shintō 2
While both Left and Right show awareness of the conventions, I find it difficult to be beguiled more by coming to the realisation that ‘My sorry self, alone, / Is sunk in sadness, am I not’ on seeing the moon lodging between the reeds, than I am by the conception of the one who seems to have seen the moon over Mount Obasute[1], so I could say that it has a bit of conception about it at present.
[1] Topic unknown. わが心なぐさめかねつさらしなやをばすて山にてる月を見て wa ga kokoro / nagusamekanetsu / sarashina ya / obasuteyama ni / teru tsuki o mite ‘My heart / Cannot be consoled— / In Sarashina / Above Mount Obasute / On seeing the shining moon…’ Anonymous (KKS XVII: 878)
shiranami no tatsuta no kawa ni shikiru kana yama no sakura wa chirinikerashi mo
Whitecaps On Tatsuta River Constant are! Upon it the mountain cherries Have scattered it seems…
Lady Kazusa 13
Right
花ざかりゆきとぞ見ゆるとしをへてよしのの山はふゆはふたたび
hanazakari yuki to zo miyuru toshi o hete yoshino no yama wa fuyu wa futatabi
The profusion of blossom Seems like snow, so Passing through the year To Mount Yoshino Winter comes twice!
Lady Shikibu 14
The poem of the Left’s ‘Whitecaps / On Tatsuta River / Constant are!’ is an expression I have not heard before. I have reviewed a large number of collections, and it has not been previously used. The Right’s poem is one from the Poetry Match held by the Sage of Ungo Temple.[i] Thus, it is difficult to determine a winner or loser.
The Left poem’s central line ‘constant are!’ sounds a bit distant. In addition, looking at the flowing of water is not part of the essential meaning of the topic. If one views the treetops, then one should say something like ‘Hidden in the mountains’ depths / These blossoms – would any wish to see them?’[1] –that’s an appropriate expression to be directed toward such blossoms. This poem is lacking in the sentiments required for a poetry match. The poem of the Right, stating that blossoms resemble snow, is something that has been used frequently and so sounds very well-worn, indeed. The final ‘Winter comes twice!’ also lacks elegance and, in addition, seems insufficient. I would think these should tie?
[1] A poem from a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress, during the Kanpyō period. 吹風と谷の水としなかりせば深山がくれの花を見ましや fuku kaze to / tani no mizu to shi / nakariseba / miyama gakure no / hana o mimashi ya ‘The gusting wind and / The valley’s waters / Were there none, then / Hidden in the mountains’ depths / These blossoms – would there be any chance to see them?’ Tsurayuki (KKS II: 118)
[i] It is unclear which poetry match Mototoshi is referring to here. The Sage of Ungo Temple (Ungoji no hijiri 雲居寺聖) was a sobriquet given to Senzai瞻西 (?-1127), after he reconstructed the temple in Higashiyama to the east of the capital after a long period of abeyance. There are surviving records of three poetry matches held at the temple in which Senzai took part: the ‘Poetry Match at the Ungo Temple’ (Ungoji uta’awase 雲居寺歌合); the ‘Poetry Match held at the Celebration after Sutra-copying at the Ungo Temple’ (Ungoji kechiengyō goen uta’awase 雲居寺結縁経後宴歌合); and the ‘Later Match Contest held at the Ungo Temple’ (Ungoji goban uta’awase 雲居寺後番歌合). All of these took place in Eikyū 4 (1116), but the first and last are fragmentary and only identifiable from the headnote to poems included in other collections. Ungoji kechiengyō goen uta’awase, however, is extant and was judged by Mototoshi, so we can definitively say that he was present. This match, though, took place in the Eighth Month, and so was devoted to autumn topics; Shikibu is also not listed among the participants, although a number of other court ladies well-known as poets do take part. The other two matches took place in the summer, or later in the autumn, and so it seems unlikely that a spring topic, such as cherry blossom, would have been assigned. The likelihood, therefore, is that either Mototoshi is referring to another match held at the temple in the spring, no record of which has survived, or that he has misremember the occasion on which he encountered Shikibu’s poem. A slight variant of this poem does occur in the anthology Konsen wakashū 今撰和歌集 (‘Anthology of Current Poetry’) (27), a private collection believed to have been put together by Kenshō in 1165-66, but the headnote there references this match, and there appear to be no records of this poem elsewhere in the canon.
