fuyu kusa to
mieshi haruno no
ozasawara
yayoi no ame ni
fukamidori naru
A winter plant
They did appear in the fields in springtime:
The groves of young broad-leaved bamboo
By the Third Month’s rains
Turned the darkest green.
In Kanpyō-Shōhō 2 [750], on the 24th day of the Third Month, it would be near to the beginning of summer in the Fourth Month, so he composed these two poems when, on the evening of the 23rd day, he suddenly thought of a cuckoo calling at dawn.
霍公鳥来鳴き響めば草取らむ花橘を宿には植ゑずて
pototogisu
kinaki toyomeba
kusa toramu
panatatibana wo
yado ni wa uwezute
When the cuckoo
Arrives, his resounding song
Sends me gathering grasses,
For orange blossom
Has not been planted in my grounds…
The Right state: the Left’s poem seems fine. The Left state: we find no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Right’s ‘the path of dreams gets more distant’ (yumeji mo tōki) sounds elegant, but the Left’s poem has already been assessed as ‘fine’ in the comments by the gentlemen of the Right. This round I will leave the judgement in their hands and make the Left the winner.
Both Left and Right say together: we can see no faults to mention.
In judgement: the Left’s poem is charming in style. The conception of the Right’s ‘teardrops’ shades’ (namida no iro) shifting is elegant, but both poems seem to be simply lamenting that one has gone on a journey, and there is little conception of love in them. They are equivalent and the round should tie.
The Right state they have no criticisms of the Left’s poem. The Left merely say that the Right’s poem is ‘old-fashioned’.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘dew drops’ (tsuyu no tama) falling so widely at Sayo-no-Nakayama one can surmise to be deeply expressive of the concept of travel. The Right’s Akashi Bay is a place strongly associated with the sad sound of the wind and the waves, but the final ‘makes even more fall’ (ochimasarikeru) is insufficient. Thus, the Left should win.