Round Eleven

Left (Win)

をしみかねあかぬ名残のくるしきに入るまではみじ秋のよの月

oshimikane akanu nagori no kurushiki ni iru made wa miji aki no yo no tsuki

Unbearable regret, Unending is a memento Most painful— I would not watch until it sets: The moon this autumn night.

Kenshō
69

Right

月影のかたぶくかたにさしいればやどのうちにも霜ぞ置きける

tsukigage no katabuku kata ni sashi’ireba yado no uchi ni mo shimo zo okikeru

The moonlight as It descends Shines in, so Within my lodging Frost, indeed, has fallen.

Lord Yorisuke
70

The Left, saying that the setting of the moon is a painful memento, and thus not watching it until the end seems excessively topsy-turvy. The Right, saying that the setting moon enters one’s lodging, is both pretentious and misses the point—surely it depends on the construction of the house! This shows know knowledge of how diction should be used, so the Left has to win.