sakurabana sora ni amagiru shirakumo no tanabikiwataru kazuragi no yama
The cherry blossoms, As sky-sweeping Clouds of white Drape all across Kazuragi Mountain.
Takasuke 25
Right
さくらさくながらの山のながき日も昔をこひぬ時のまぞなき
sakura saku nagara no yama no nagaki hi mo mukashi o koinu toki no ma zo naki
The cherries bloom Changeless on Nagara Mountain; The lengthy days to Those beloved bygone Moments do not compare.
Shimotsuke 26
Neither Left nor Right has any faults worth mentioning. The Right’s poem appears tranquil, with an artless quality. It has a moving sensibility of longing for the past, but the Left’s poem should just about win, I think.
When she was in attendance on Empress Akiko, Her Majesty’s mien was that of recollecting a certain situation with His Majesty, Former Emperor Ichijō, so she presented this the following morning, after she had withdrawn from Her Majesty’s presence.
つねよりもまたぬれそひし袂かなむかしをかけて落ちし涙に
tune yori mo mata nuresoFisi tamoto kana mukasi wo kakete wotisi namida ni
More than ever, Soaked through are My sleeves! For bygone days I stored up The tears I let fall now…
The Right wonder ‘where’ the Left ‘would be better gone’ (hanaremashikaba)? The Left say the Right’s poem expresses commonplace feelings [kikinaretaru kokochisu].
In judgement: ‘Where would they be better gone’ (asahanaretaru) means, how would they be gone. This really is an expression with which I am unfamiliar. In any case, it seems poor reasoning [yoshikaranu yoshi ni ya]. However, the Right, having ‘I’ll not become’ (narinamashi) and ‘is not’ (narazu wa) in the initial and final sections of the poem is a fault. While one still wonders ‘where’ the Left is, it must win.
