Left.
下とをる涙に袖も朽ちはてゝ着るかひもなき雨衣かな
| shita tōru namida ni sode mo kuchihatete kiru kai mo naki amagoromo kana |
Right through to below With tears are even my sleeves Quite rotted; Putting it on would be pointless This raincoat of mine! |
Kenshō.
937
Right (Win).
戀ゆへに身を知る雨の年を經て心のうちにかき曇るらむ
| koi yue ni mi o shiru ame no toshi o hete kokoro no uchi ni kakikumoruramu |
For love The rain knows how I feel full well Down through the years Within my heart The clouds grow ever thicker… |
The Supernumerary Master of the Empress Household Office.
938
The Right state: the Left’s ‘right through to below’ (shita tōruʼ) sounds as if the poet is passing below the palace! The Left state: in this poem it is not at all clear why it is that ‘the rain knows how I feel full well’ (mi o shiru ame).
In judgement: the Left, by using ‘right through to below’, has forgotten that ‘raincoat’ (amagoromo) evokes the sense of a salt-hut and, because there is nothing in the poem to suggest a location by the sea, amagoromo appears to be the clothing of a nun, or something similar. As for the Right’s ‘the rain knows how I feel full well’, it is simply ‘for love’. This seems plain to me. The Right wins.