Left
君ゆへにわれさへうとく成はてゝ塵のみゐたる床のさむしろ
| kimi yue ni ware sae utoku narihatete chiri nomi itaru toko no samushiro |
For him So distant have I Become; Dust alone gathers On the matting of my bed. |
Lord Ari’ie
1131
Right (Win)
さむしろも哀とや思ふあらましに來ぬ君待つとうち拂ふをば
| samushiro mo aware to ya omou aramashi ni konu kimi matsu to uchiharau o ba |
Does my matting, too, Feel pity, I wonder? As waiting for one who never comes I sweep it clean… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress’ Household Office
1132
The Right state: the Left’s poem is not bad. The Left state: the final section of the Right’s poem is unsatisfactory.
In judgement: Both poems use ‘matting’ (samushiro), and the Left’s is not bad in form, but the theme of a person who has grown to hate their own bed so much that dust alone gathers there is completely different from that of the previous round – what sort of lover might they have had, one wonders! Although I wonder about the final section of the Right’s poem, it does not seem to regret the overall conception of love and so wins the round.