Left (Win).
見し秋を何に殘さん草の原ひとつに變る野邊のけしきに
| mishi aki o nani ni nokosan kusa no hara hitotsu ni kawaru nobe no keshiki ni |
Of the sights of autumn What should I recall? The fields of grasses Have become but one Single plain within my view… |
505
Right.
霜枯の野邊のあはれを見ぬ人や秋の色には心とめけむ
| shimogare no nobe no aware o minu hito ya aki no iro ni wa kokoro tomekemu |
A frost-burned Plain – so sad: Can one who’s viewed it not Hold the hues of autumn Within his heart? |
506
The Right state that the phrase ‘fields of grasses’ (kusa no hara) ‘sounds poor’ [kikiyokarazu]. The Left state that the Right’s poem is ‘antiquated’ [furumekashi].
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘What should I recall? The fields of grasses’ (nani ni nokosan kusa no hara) is charming [en ni koso haberumere]. The gentlemen of the Right’s reasoning for finding fault with ‘fields of grasses’ is highly flawed [mottomo utata aru ni ya]. Murasaki Shikibu was better at writing prose than composing poems. Thus, The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms is particularly charming [koto ni en’naru mono nari]. It is highly regrettable for one to compose poetry without having read The Tale of Genji. The Right’s poem does not appear poor in diction and conception [kokoro kotoba ashiku wa miezaru]. However, it is extremely mundane in style [tsune no tei narubeshi]. The Left’s poem is better, and I make it the winner.