Left (Tie).
今日はさは戀の奴の行末も頼む御祖の神にまかせん
| kyō wa sa wa koi no yatsuko no yukusue mo tanomu mioya no kami ni makasen |
Now what Is love’s slave To do? To the God of Mioya Will he entrust is fate! |
661
Right.
諸戀に今はなりなむみごもりの神のしるしもありとこそ聞け
| morogoi ni ima wa narinamu migokori no kami no shirushi mo ari to koso kike |
Our love Now will be! For the God of the Waters Has given me a sign I hear. |
662
The Gentlemen of the Right state: a slave (yatsuko) is one who serves a master. In this poem, the word stands for a child and this is bizarre. ‘Love’s slave’ (koi no yatsuko) is simply pretentious, and in the end the poem has nothing to say. The Gentlemen of the Left state: it appears that the God of the Waters has some influence on ‘our love’. Why should that be?
Shunzei’s judgement: as the Left has ‘Love’s slave’ and the Right ‘our love’, the style of both poems is something which would be better avoided. I cannot clearly determine a winner, and must declare a tie.