[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.
In the year after that in which the Teishi Emperor relinquished the throne, he held a maidenflower match, making no instruction as to who should lead the teams of the Left and Right, so His Majesty and Her Majesty, the Empress, fulfilled those roles.
Left
くさがくれあきすぎぬべきをみなへしにほひゆゑにやまづみえぬらむ
kusagakure aki suginubeki ominaeshi nioi yue ni ya mazu mienuramu
Hidden ‘mongst the grasses Has she spent the autumn, This maidenflower— Is it for her glow that She is soon discovered?
na ni shi owaba shiite tanomamu ominaeshi hito no kokoro no aki wa uku tomo
If the name fits, then Strongly, would I ask you, Maidenflower: Though folk’s full hearts In autumn, be cruel…
37
あきのよをひとりねたらむあまのがはふちせたどらずいざわたりなむ
aki no yo o hitori netaramu ama no kawa fuchise tadorazu iza watarinamu
On an autumn night, I sleep alone, it seems, for To the River of Heaven’s Depths and shallows I will not make my way— However can I cross them?
39
[1]Shinchokusenshū 242; also a minor variant occurs in Kokin rokujō (3368) なにしおはばしひてたのまんをみなへし花の心の秋はうくともna ni shi owaba / shiite tanomamu / ominaeshi / hana no kokoro no / aki wa uku tomo ‘If the name fits, then / Forcefully, would I trust you, / Maidenflower: / Though a flower’s heart / In autumn, be cruel…’ Tsurayuki.
The Right state: the Left’s poem certainly has no faults. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no conception of Love.
In judgement: both Gentlemen’s pictures are ‘painted’ (kakitomete), with the Left then using ‘upon my darling’ (imo ga ue ni mo), which certainly has a conception of love. The Right simply draws a picture of a maidenflower and drenches it with dew, so it does not seem as if he is being moved by the sight of a person. Thus, again, the Left seems the superior poem.