Left.
心ある射手の舎人のけしきかな玉敷く庭に鞆音ひゞきて
| kokoro aru ite no toneri no keshiki kana tama shiku niwa ni tomone hibikite |
Souls stirred, The archers, guardsmen all, Are a sight Within the gem-strewn gardens, As bowstring snaps to bracer! |
51
Right (Win).
梓弓引く手ばかりはよそなれど心にいるは雲の上人
| azusayumi hiku te bakari wa yoso naredo kokoro ni iru wa kumo no uebito |
A catalpa bow: Drawn simply by the hand, Distant, it is, yet Letting fly, within their hearts, are The folk above the clouds… |
52
The Right team remark here that they were ‘unable to grasp’ the first line of the Left’s poem, possibly suggesting a judgement that kokoro aru, which I’ve translated here as ‘Souls stirred’, and which refers to the ability to be moved emotionally by phenomena, or events, was an unsuitable expression for mere ‘guardsmen’. The Left team state bluntly that the reference to ‘the folk above the clouds’ was ‘unsuited to this rite’, meaning the New Year archery contest, in which members of the higher nobility, the ‘folk above the clouds’, did not participate.