From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house in the Second Month, Tengyō 2 – The end of summer.
むかしより思ふ心はみな月のみそぎの神ぞ空にしるらん
| mukashi yori omou kokoro wa minazuki no misogi no kami zo sora ni shiruran | For a long time now, Yearning has filled my heart: In the Sixth Month The purifying deity Seems to know it well, within the skies. |
Anonymous
From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house in the Second Month, Tengyō 2 – Love in the midst of summer.
ふりくらす五月の空のながめにはねのみなかれて人ぞ恋しき
| furikurasu satsuki no sora no nagame ni wa ne nomi nakarete hito zo koishiki | Dark with showers The Fifth Month’s skies Endlessly do fill my gaze, Doing nothing but weep For I love her so! |
Anonymous
Cuckoos
Round One
Left
ほととぎすまきのとばかりまちつれどなかであけぬる夏のしののめ
| hototogisu maki no to bakari machitsuredo nakade akenuru natsu no shinonome | O, cuckoo, Briefly by my door of cedar wood Did I await you, yet No song, at all, brightened This summer edge of dawn. |
Lord Dainagon
15
Right (Win)
ほととぎすなくうれしさをつつめどもそらにはこゑもとまらざりけり
| hototogisu naku ureshisa o tsutsumedomo sora ni wa koe mo tomarazarikeri | At the cuckoo’s Song, my joy To hold fast did I try, yet In the skies, his cry Lingered not. |
Lord Chūnagon
16
The Left’s poem, after careful consideration, has a graceful style. The diction of the Right’s poem is superb, and there is an excess of conception. Reading and reciting these leaves my aged heart at a loss. Thus, they tie.
In the Left’s poem, ‘briefly’ is an expression which means ‘just for a short time’, I think, and thus the sentiments are lacking. Saying ‘brightened…edge of dawn’ sounds as if the poet has only begun waiting at daybreak. One does see, apparently, a number of poems in prior matches where the poet has not heard the cuckoo. Nevertheless, I do wonder about whether this is appropriate, given that poems where the cuckoo has been heard are faultless. The Right’s poem is not that good, but it is poetic. Thus, it has to win.
Love.
Left
人知れぬ恋の涙はうぐひすの初声にこそながれいでぬれ
| hito shirenu koi no namida wa uguisu no hatsukoe ni koso nagare’idenure | Unknown to all My tears of love With the warbler’s First cry have Burst into flow! |
3
Right
いかならむときか忘れむ春霞たちゐる空も君ぞこひしき
| ika naramu toki ka wasuremu harugasumi tachi’iru sora mo kimi zo koishiki | What is to become of me? Can I forget the time, when The spring haze Rising into the skies, too, Was dear to me as you? |
4
Composed on the daughter of the dragon king becoming a buddha.
わたつ海の底のもくづと見し物をいかでか空の月と成るらん
| wata tu umi no soko no mokudu to misi mono wo ikade ka sora no tuki to naruran | In the broad sea sweep’s Depths among the seaweed Did she appear to be, so How is it that within the skies A moon she might become? |
Dharma Master Shōchō
Topics
| Cherry | Cuckoos | Moon | Snow | Felicitations |
Poets
| Left | Right |
| Lord Dainagon [Kōkaku] | Lord Chūnagon [Kyōen] |
| Lord Saburō | Ushigimi |
| Retired from the world on Mount Uji [Eien] | Senior Assistant Minister Past Lecturer [Kakuyo] |
| Cell of the Fragrant Elephant [Shin’ei] | Cell of the Everlasting Truth [Tanshū] |
| Controller’s Graduate [Shinkei] | Kerin’in Graduate [Yūzen] |
| Cell of Fragrant Cloud [Shōchō] | Cell of Compassionate Light [Sōen] |
| Lady Kazusa | Lady Shikibu |
Judge
Mototoshi
Former Director of the Bureau of Carpentry, Toshiyori[i]
Cherry
Round One
Left
みやまにはしひがかざをれはやけれどふもとのはなはことしさくめり
| miyama ni wa shii ga kaza’ore hayakeredo fumoto no hana wa kotoshi sakumeri | Deep within the mountains, Brushwood is broken by the wind So swiftly, yet In the foothills the blossom Will bloom this year, it seems.[ii] |
Lord Dainagon
1
Right
ちるはなをさそふとみつるはる風のうはのそらにもすててけるかな
| chiru hana o sasou to mitsuru harukaze no uwa no sora ni mo sutetekeru kana | The scattered blossoms Look to be beckoned by The spring breezes, Even high up in the skies To be abandoned! |
Lord Chūnagon
2
I would say there’s no reason to say that the poem of the Left is superb, yet it does have a little bit of interest. The poem of the Right’s ‘Even high up in the skies /To be abandoned!’ completely fails to exceed vulgar diction. Thus, I make the Left the winner.
The poem of the Left’s ‘Brushwood is broken by the wind’ and so forth cannot be called ordinary and is an extremely charming use of diction. However, if the branches are broken and lost, then it would appear difficult for them to bloom, yet the addition of ‘yet’ to ‘swiftly’ gives the impression that there are branches remaining, thus following this with ‘Will bloom this year, it seems’ appears clumsy.
The poem of the Right has nothing remarkable about it, and no particular errors. Even so, because except in exceptional circumstances, the Left must win the first round, I make the Left the winner.
[i] This match was initially judged by Fujiwara no Mototoshi, but at some point after this, one of the participants, Sōen, submitted an ‘Appeal’ (chinjō) claiming these were unfair, and Toshiyori was asked to re-judge the match. The result is that there are two manuscript traditions for this event, one with Mototoshi’s judgements and one with Toshiyori’s. I am including both sets of judgements here.
[ii] The end of winter-beginning of the Twelfth Month. みやまにははやまのあらしあらげなりしひのかざをれいくそかかれり miyama ni wa / hayama no arashi / aragenari / shii no kaza’ore / ikuso kakareri ‘Deep within the mountains / Across the timber slopes the storm wind / Rages; / Brushwood is broken by the wind / O’er countless tens of trees.’ Sone no Yoshitada (Yoshitada-shū 342)
Recalling love beneath the moon.
春やあらぬ月は見しよの空ながらなれし昔の影ぞ恋しき
| haru ya aranu tsuki wa mishi yo no sora nagara nareshi mukashi no kage zo koishiki | Is this not that spring? The moon is as I beheld it that night Within the skies, yet I had grown accustomed, long ago, to Her face, so much more dear to me… |
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