Left (Win).
初春のけふはかしこきみことのりのべよと千世のしるしぞ置く
| hatsu haru no kyō wa kashikoki mikotonori nobeyo to chiyo no shirushi zo oku |
At the start of spring Today, the awesome Imperial Word Announce! For a thousand generations The signs are placed. |
Right.
諸人の立ちゐる庭のさか月に光もしるし千代の初春
| morobito no tachi’iru niwa no sakazuki ni hikari mo shirushi chiyo no hatsuharu |
Where the courtier crowds Sit and stand within the gardens, Upon the wine cups Light is e’en a sign, of A thousand generations, at the start of spring. |
Ietaka
6
Neither team finds any fault in the other’s poem this round.
Shunzei’s judgement: The conception [kokoro] of the Left’s ‘Announce! For a thousand generations the signs are placed’ (nobeyo to chiyo no shirushi zo oku) is fine [yoroshiku haberubeshi]. The configuration of the Right’s poem, too, is splendid [sugata wa yū ni haberu], but ‘wine cups’ (sakazuki) seems rather abrupt. ‘Light’ (hikari) could beimagined as coming from the moon, but its origin is not entirely clear. Thus, as a result, the Left must win.