In judgement: the Left starts with ‘My home I left in floods’ (furusato ni ideshi ni masaru) and concludes with ‘the wild wind round my pillow breaks us apart in dreams’ (arashi no makura yume ni wakarete) – this is a form of words the quality of which I am entirely unable to convey with my own clumsy expressions, but the Right’s ‘O moonlight, sinking toward the mountains round the capital’ (miyako no yama ni kakaru tsukikage) is awash with a sense of tears, so it is most unclear which should win or lose. Both truly seem to reflect the conception of this topic ‘Love and Travel’ well. The poems have been so good every round that my brush is drenched with this old man’s tears, and I can find no other way to express it.
When the Biwa Minister of the Left, having some use for them, requested some oak leaves, and this was sent to the house of his acquaintence, Chikane, to obtain them.
我が宿を何時馴らしてか楢の葉を馴らし顔には折りにをこする
wa ga yado wo
itu narasite ka
nara no Fa wo
narasigaFo ni Fa
wori ni okosuru
With my home
When did you become so familiar?
That leaves of oak
So freely
Do you send to pick!