Left (Tie).
おなじ瀬をのぼる鮎子に大井河くだりぞあらぬ篝火の影
| onaji se o noboru ayuko ni ōigawa kudari zo aranu kagaribi no kage |
At the same swift waters: Sweetfish sprats head up The Ōi River, Waiting, unmoving are The lighted fishing-fires. |
217
Right (Tie).
桂川くだりもあらぬ鵜舟かなこの瀬にのみや鮎子さばしる
| katsuragawa kudari mo aranu ubune kana kono se ni nomi ya ayuko sabashiru |
Upon Katsura River, Waiting, unmoving are The cormorant boats; Is it only at these swift waters, that The sweetfish sprats do race? |
218
Neither team sees any difficulties with the other’s poems this round.
Shunzei comments tersely, ‘Both poems use “sweetfish sprats”, and this old-fashioned term cannot help but give them a less than pleasant air. Neither is worthy of victory.’