Round Thirteen
Left
すみよしのあまくだりますまつのうへにそらよりかくる月のしらゆふ
| sumiyoshi no amakudarimasu matsu no ue ni sora yori kakuru tsuki no shirayū | At Sumiyoshi Did the Deity descend from Heaven To the pines—upon them From the skies are hung The moon’s sacred streamers. |
Kamo no Agatanushi Masahira
Kataoka Junior Assistant Priest[1]
25
Right (Win)
しめのうちにしらゆふかけぬひまぞなき月もたむけのこころありけり
| shime no uchi ni shirayū kakenu hima zo naki tsuki mo tamuke no kokoro arikeri | Within the holy precints Sacred streamers fail to hang In not a single spot— The moon to make an offering Is of a mind. |
Lord Fujiwara no Chikashige
Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade,
Without Office[2]
26
While the poem of the Left’s ‘From the skies are hung’ and so forth seems charming, I do wonder about the idea of the ‘Deity descending from Heaven / To the pines’—it’s vague. The poem of the Right’s conception and configuration of ‘The moon to make an offering’ appears pleasant, and thus it wins.
[1] Kataoka negi jūyon’ijō Kamo agatanushi Masahira 片岡禰宜従四位上賀茂県主政平
[2] San’i jūgoijō Fujiwara ason Chikashige 散位従五位上藤原朝臣親重
Round Two
Left (Win)
にはびたくあたりをぬるみおくしものとけぬや月のひかりなるらむ
| niwabi taku atari o nurumi oku shimo no tokenu ya tsuki no hikari naruramu | Braziers kindled shed Warmth all around, so That the fallen frost Melts not, due to the moon’s Light might be? |
Lord Fujiwara no Sanefusa
Major Counsellor
Exalted Junior Second Rank[i]
3
Right
ひとすぢにあふぐこころをすみよしのそらゆく月にわけぞやらるる
| hito suji ni ōgu kokoro o sumiyoshi no sora yuku tsuki ni wake zo yararuru | With my whole Heart I worship Sumiyoshi, for He The moon travelling through the skies Has dispensed! |
Lord Minamoto no Yorimasa
Supernumerary Master of the Right Capital Office
Exalted Junior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade[ii]
4
The Left’s poem has a novel conception, while appearing to use familiar diction. The Right’s emotions, whereby whole-hearted faith sees the moon as provided by the deity when seeing it, also sound extremely charming, yet, still, the configuration of ‘melts not, the moon’ appears more in keeping with a poem for a poetry match, and thus the Left wins.
[i] Jūni’i-gyō gondainagon Fujiwara ason Sanefusa 従二位行権大納言藤原朝臣実房
[ii] Jūyon’i-gyō sakyō gontaifu Minamoto ason Yorimasa 従四位上行左京権大夫源朝臣頼政
Round Six
Left (Win)
山姫はもみぢのにしきおりてけりたちなやつしそ嶺の朝霧
| yamahime wa momiji no nishiki oritekeri tachi na yatsushi so mine no asagiri | The mountain’s princess, Of scarlet leaves brocade Has woven; In your rising don’t despoil it, O, morning mists upon the peak! |
Lord Kinshige
83
Right
しぐれには紅葉の色ぞまさりける又かきくもる空はいとはじ
| shigure ni wa momiji no iro zo masarikeri mata kakikumoru sora wa itowaji | A shower makes The scarlet leaves’ hues Most fine; So, the swiftly clouding Sky I could not dislike. |
Lord Masahira
84
The Right sounds as if the poet has just come to the revelation that, even though a showery sky is charming, can one possibly dislike it, given that it improves the hues of the scarlet leaves. The Left isn’t bad, but it does have two identical sounds ending lines, and this has been called the same-sounding rhyme fault, I believe. With that being said, in the Tentoku Poetry Match, there were some poems with this feature which were criticized, and some which were not, so I wonder if this is not something to particularly worry about. In this poem it doesn’t sound like a defect and, taking this together with the fact that the Right’s poem is poor, the Left should win.
Round Ten
Left
をぐらやま下ゆく水のさざれ石も数かくれなくてらす月かげ
| ogurayama shita yuku mizu no sazare’ishi mo kazu kakurenaku terasu tsukikage | Beneath gloomy Mount Ogura Flow waters full Of pebbles, Unable to conceal their numbers In the shining moonlight. |
Lord Kiyosuke
67
Right (Win)
あまの川とわたる月の影すみてにごれるよともみえぬ空かな
| ama no kawa towataru tsuki no kage sumite nigoreru yo tomo mienu sora kana | Across the River of Heaven’s Mouth passes the moon’s Clear light— Even this cloudy world Does not appear so beneath this sky! |
Shinkaku
68
There’s nothing to mention about the Left, and the same is the case for the Right, but for some reason should it win?
