aki kurete chigusa no hana wa nokoranedo hitori utsurou shiragiku no hana
Autumn sinks to twilight, and Of a thousand blossoms Not one lingers, save Alone and fading A white chrysanthemum bloom.
Lord Shigemoto 41
Right (T – Win)
かぎりなく君が千代経むしるしにや散残るらん宿のしらぎく
kagirinaku kimi ga chiyo hemu shirushi ni ya chirinokoruran yado no shiragiku
That endless through A thousand ages will my Lord pass A sign there is: Not scattering and lingering White chrysanthemums at his house!
Lord Tadataka 42
Toshiyori states: I don’t have much to point out about the poem on ‘autumn sinking to twilight’, except that it could have had ‘indeed, linger’ in place of ‘not one lingers, yet’ to lead to ‘alone and fading’. As for the second poem, there are no other examples of saying ‘chrysanthemums scatter’, yet I do wonder about how this sounds? Nevertheless, it has a conception of Felicitation and this makes it somehow superior.
Mototoshi states: the poems of Left and Right are of the same standard in both conception and diction, so it’s not possible to tell them apart. These, too, are of the same quality.
ware koso wa nobe oba yado ni utsushitsure ta ga sasoikoshi mushi no nezoko wa
‘Twas I, indeed, who The meadow to my dwelling Shifted, but Who is it has been invited here By the insects’ songs?
Shun’e Tayū no kimi 21
Right
秋の野の千くさの花の色色を心ひとつにそめてこそみれ
aki no no no chikusa no hana no iroiro o kokoro hitotsu ni somete koso mire
The autumn meadows Thousand grasses’ blooms Have hues a’plenty, but My heart, but one, Has been dyed, you see!
Mikawa, Court Lady to His Excellency 22
The Left sounds as if the poet is being comforted by the insects which is at some variance from the essential meaning of the topic, and yet when I listen to it, it has an abundance of charm. The Right doesn’t differ, does it, from Kanemasa’s poem in the Poetry Match held at the Residence of the Minister of the Centre in Gen’ei 2 [1119]:
秋くれば千くさに匂ふ花の色の心ひとつにいかでしむらん
aki kureba chikusa ni niou hana no iro no kokoro hitotsu ni ikade shimuran
When the autumn comes The thousand grasses glow With flowers’ hues, but Why, then, does my heart with but one Seem to be stained?
