Left.
夜を重ね心の関のかたきかなわが音は鳥の空音ならねば
| yo o kasane kokoro no seki no kataki kana wa ga ne wa tori no sorane naraneba |
Night upon night The barriers upon your heart Stand firm, indeed! For the sounds I make are no cock’s False crow! |
Lord Ari’ie
1001
Right (Win).
人知れぬうらみにあまる浪の上を抑ふる袖や須磨の関守
| hito shirenu urami ni amaru nami no ue o osauru sode ya suma no sekimori |
She cannot know The prospect of my despair; Dashed upon the waves Are my sleeves Barrier Wardens at Suma? |
Jakuren
1002
The Right state: why specifically refer to a ‘false crow’ (sorane)? This makes it sound as if the barrier would not be opened for a real bird’s cry. In response, the Left: as there is the precedent of a barrier being opened in response to a false crow, the poem draws upon this to refer to ‘the sounds I make’ (wa ga ne) – we fail to see why this is problematic. The Left state: we find no faults in need of identification in the Right’s poem.
In judgement: it seems difficult to distinguish between ‘the sounds I make’ and the ‘false crow’ in the Left’s poem, and the Right’s ‘dashed upon the waves are my sleeves’ (osauru sode) is pleasant. Thus, the Right wins.