Left (Tie).
山田守る素児が鳴子に風触れてたゆむ眠り驚かす也
| yamada moru suko ga naruko ni kaze furete tayumu neburi odorokasu nari |
Guarding the mountain fields, To the watchman the bird-clapper’s sound Is carried by the wind, And from his idle doze He starts awake! |
385
Right (Tie).
吹折は鳴子の音も絶えせねば風の守りける山田成けり
| fuku ori wa naruko no oto mo taeseneba kaze no morikeru yamada narikeri |
When the wind blows The bird-clapper’s sound Is ceaseless; It is the wind that’s watching O’er the mountain fields. |
386
The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem this round. The Left merely state that the first line of the Right’s poem is ‘weak’.
Shunzei’s judgement: In the Left’s poem, the emotional overtones of ‘idle doze’ (tayumu neburi) do not match those of ‘watchman’ (suko). Perhaps, instead, it was and old man doing the guarding? As for the Right’s poem, saying ‘when the wind blows’ (fuku ori wa) is weak is an understatement, indeed, and yet it is impossible to award ‘idle doze’ the victory. The round must tie.