Left.
秋ぞかし岩田の小野のいはずとも柞が原に紅葉やはせん
| aki zo kashi wata no ono no iwazutomo hahaso ga hara ni momiji ya wa sen |
It’s Autumn! At Iwata-no-Ono, Needless to say, The oak groves, all, Are turning to scarlet leaves. |
437
Right.
薄く濃くことは變れど柞原梢にこぞる秋の色かな
| usuku koku koto wa kawaredo hahasowara kozue ni kozoru aki no iro kana |
First dark, then light They change, yet, Upon the oak groves’ Treetops gather All the hues of autumn… |
The Provisional Master of the Empress Household Office.
438
The Right find no fault with the Left’s poem. The Left state that they find ‘gather’ (kozoru) ‘grating on the ear’ [kikiyokarazu] and ‘clumsy’ [tezutsu].
Shunzei’s judgement: Starting a poem with ‘It’s Autumn!’ is a usage of diction which I must hope will be considered charming [kotobazukai okashikaran to shokiseru narubeshi]! The Right’s ‘treetops gather’ (kozue ni kozoru) is somewhat unexpected wording [sukoshi wa omoikakenu kotoba ni wa haberedo], yet one cannot call it ‘clumsy’. So, with nothing superlative or at fault with either poem, the round ties.