Round Twenty-Four

Left (Win)

かぜのおとにわきぞかねましまつがねのまくらにもらぬしぐれなりせば

kaze no oto ni waki zo kanemashi matsu ga ne no makura ni moranu shigure nariseba

The gusts of wind I cannot tell apart from The rustle of the pines roots For my pillow should no drips From the shower fall…

Lord Sanefusa
97

Right

たびのいほはあらしにたぐふよこしぐれしばのかこひにとまらざりけり

tabi no io wa arashi ni taguu yoko shigure shiba no kakoi ni tomarazarikeri

My traveller’s hut Is lashed by the storm wind’s Sideways showers— The brushwood walls Halt it not at all.

Lord Yorimasa
98

The conception and configuration of the poem of the Left, starting ‘I cannot tell apart from / The rustle of the pines’ and continuing ‘For my pillow should no drips / From the shower fall’ is, once again, truly exceptional! As for the poem of the Right, while it appears to have a charming style and use of diction, even if it is the case that ‘sideways showers’ are a genuine phenomenon, it fails to sound particularly elegant, doesn’t it. In addition, the latter section of the poem, ‘the brushwood walls’, feels slightly lacking in conception. Thus, I make the Left the winner.