mitekaeru kokoro akaneba sakurabana sakeru atari ni yado ya karamashi
Seeing you and returning home Leaves my heart unsated, O, cherry blossom! In the place where you do bloom is Where I would borrow lodging…
Okikaze 21
Right
しののめにおきてみつればさくらばなまだよをこめてちりにけるかな
shinonome ni okite mitsureba sakurabana mada yo o komete chirinikeru kana
At the edge of dawn, When I arise to gaze upon The cherry blossoms Within the night’s span Have they scattered!
Yorimoto 22
The Right’s poem was just as His Majesty said: ‘It expresses affection for the blossom through gazing and gazing upon them.’ When it was suggested to him that the work produced by Lord Sadakata and Lord Noboru conveyed the same overall impression, he took his time to consider the matter, then said, ‘In that case,’ and made the round a tie.
musubiken chigiri mo tsurashi kusamakura matsu yūgure mo yado o tanomite
Tangled Brief bonds are chill; With a grassy pillow She awaits the evening and A request for lodging.
Takanobu
1164
Left and Right state together: both poems have only a faint conception of entertainers.
In judgement: both Left and Right have a ‘grassy pillow’ (kusamakura) and a faint conception of entertainers, as the Gentlemen have already stated. They seem to me to somehow resemble the poem by the Left in Round Nine. The Left’s ‘dewfall drops tangled’ (tsuyu musubioku) and the Right’s ‘brief bonds are chill’ (chigiri mo tsurashi) are both elegant. Once again, I make this a tie.
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no matters we can criticize. The Left state: the conception of Love in the Right’s poem is vague.
In judgement: The Left’s poem seem certainly to capture the conceptions of both Love and player-girls. ‘Even’ (sura shimo) in the Right’s final section, sounds rather abrupt and portentous, but the initial section is certainly elegant. Thus, the Right should win.