Left (Win).
宇津の山越えし昔の跡古りて蔦の枯れ葉に秋風ぞ吹く
| utsu no yama koeshi mukashi no ato furite tsuta no kareba ni akikaze zo fuku |
Utsu Mountain, Crossed in times of old by Ruins, ageing; on The withered ivy leaves The winds of autumn are a’blowing… |
431
Right.
淺茅たつ庭の色だにあるものを軒端の蔦はうち時雨つゝ
| asaji tatsu niwa no iro dani aru mono o nokiba no tsuta wa uchishiguretsutsu |
The cogon-grass grows In my garden, but the only hint of colour Is in The ivy by my eaves, Wet with constant showers… |
432
As the previous round.
Shunzei’s judgement: Both Left and Right seem superb in form and diction [sugata kotoba wa yoroshiku miehaberu], but the Right’s ‘cogon-grass grows’ (asaji tatsu) is pretentious [yauyaushiku], and I wonder what to make [ikaga to oboehaberu] of the final ‘wet with constant showers’ (uchishiguretsutsu), but the conception [kokoro] of the Left’s ‘Utsu Mountain’, with its ‘ancient ruins’ brought back to memory by ‘on the withered ivy leaves the winds of autumn a’blowing’, is particularly tasteful [en]. Thus, the Left certainly wins.