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.
kokoronaki kokoro mo nao zo tsukihatsuru tsuki sae sumeru sumiyoshi no hama
Even my insensitive Heart is still Quite exhausted, So clear the moon Above the beach at Sumiyoshi…
Lord Fujiwara no Toshinari Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Master of the Right Capital Office Exalted Senior Third Rank 2
The Left poem’s conception and configuration, saying ‘In ancient times was it so? / The moon o’er Suminoe’ is truly charming! While I am accustomed to hearing conceptions similar to that expressed in the initial line, I have no recollection of this exact turn of phrase and, in addition, leading with ‘Could these ancient’ and continuing with ‘Pines but speak’ is a conception which is rare, indeed. In the poem of the Right, on the moon over the beach before the shrine, I have quite exhausted my own meagre conceptions and, feel that my scanty words are not enough, I think. The Left’s poem is particularly fine, so it should win.
[i]Shōni’i Fujiwara ason Sanesada正二位藤原朝臣実定 (1139-1191)：Most frequently referred to today as the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left (Gotokudaiji no sadaijin 後徳大寺左大臣), Sanesada had an extensive court career, culminating in appointment as Minister of the Left in 1189, a position he was to hold for only two years, before illness forced him to surrender it in the middle of 1191, a few months before his death. Sanesada skillfully negotiated the fraught political environment following the Genpei War (1180-1185) and is known to have had the trust of Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-1199), the first Kamakura shogun. He was well-known as a poet, participating in many uta’awase, including this one, and has 73 poems in imperial anthologies, beginning with Senzaishū. His most famous poem today is: Composed in the conception of hearing a cuckoo at dawn. 時鳥鳴きつるかたをながむればたゞ有明の月ぞのこれる hototogisu / nakitsuru kata o / nagamureba / tada ariake no / tsuki zo nokoreru ‘A cuckoo / Calls from yonder— / Gazing there, / Only the daybreak / Moon remains.’ (SZS III: 161), which was included in Hyakunin isshu (81).
Composed on the instructions of His Majesty, on the way back from Sumiyoshi, when he had accompanied him there in the Third Month, Enkyū 5 [April 1073].
おきつかぜふきにけらしな住吉の松のしづえをあらふしらなみ
okitsukaze fukinikerashi na sumiyoshi no matsu no shizue o arau shiranami
The wind in the offing Is gusting, it seems, for At Sumiyoshi The pines’ low branches Are washed by whitecaps.
