Round Twenty-Six

Left

秋萩の露もよすがのさがり葉も風吹きたつる色ぞ身にしむ

akihagi no tsuyu mo yosuga no sagariba mo kaze fukitatsuru iro zo mi ni shimu

On the autumn bush clover Dewdrops rest upon The dangling leaves, Whipped up by the wind, Their hues sharply sink into my flesh.

The Former Minister of the Centre
51

Right (Win)

さだめなき風を待つ間もうつろひぬもとあらの萩にむすぶ白露

sadamenaki kaze o matsu ma mo utsuroinu motoara no hagi ni musubu shiratsuyu

While the unsettled Breeze they do await, Faded from The sparse bush clover have The clinging dewdrops.[1]

Kozaishō
52

The Left poem’s ‘rest upon the dangling leaves, whipped up by the wind’ seems a novel style, and yet, even though everything about dangling leaves is contained in the Ancient and Modern, it does not sound particularly evocative. The Right lacks even a small fault and appears gorgeous, so it should win.

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[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. 宮木野のもとあらの小萩つゆをおもみ風をまつごと君をこそまつ miyagino no / motoara no kohagi / tsuyu o omomi / kaze o matsu goto / kimi o koso matsu ‘On Miyagi Plain / The sparse bush clover / Weighed down with dewdrops / Awaits the wind, just as / I do wait for you…’ Anonymous (KKS XIV: 694)