Left.

ひまもなく信太の杜に聞ゆ也千枝にや來鳴く蝉の諸聲

hima mo naku shinoda no mori ni kikoyu nari chie ni ya kinaku semi no morogoe

Ceaselessly In Shinoda forest Does one hear From the thousand branches of the camphor tree The cicadas’ jostling songs?

Lord Suetsune.

293

Right (Win).

夏山の木ごとにひゞく心地して一方ならぬ蝉の諸聲

natsuyama no ki goto ni hibiku kokochishite hitokata naranu semi no morogoe

In the summer mountains Every single tree resounds, I feel, From all sides comes The cicadas’ jostling songs.

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

294

Both Left and Right state simply that they found the other’s poem ‘unsatsifying’.

Shunzei wonders, ‘Whether “Shinoda forest cicadas” (shinoda no mori no semi) is entirely appropriate? It has more the feeling of cuckoos, I think. “Every single tree resounds” (ki goto ni hibiku kokochi sen) is more like it. Thus, I would make Right the winner.’