Winter I: 22

Left.

この山の峰のむら雲吹まよひ槇の葉傳ひ霙降り來ぬ

kono yama no
mine no murakumo
fukimayoi
maki no ha tsutai
mizore furikonu
About this mountain
Peak, crowding clouds
Go scudding by;
The yew leaves tell the tale
Of fallen sleet.

Lord Sada’ie.

523

Right (Win).

雪ならばかゝらましやはうち拂ふ袖もしほたるゝ霙降るなり

yuki naraba
kakaramashi ya wa
uchiharau
sode mo shiotaruru
mizore furunari
Were it snow
Would it be like this?
Sweeping on
My sleeves are drenched
With the sleet that’s fallen!

The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.

524

Neither Left nor Right find any fault.

Shunzei’s judgement: ‘Peak, crowding clouds go scudding by’ (mine no murakumo fukimayoi) sounds fine [yoroshiku kikoyuru], but preceding it with ‘About this mountain’ (kono yama no) is something I find myself particularly unable to accept, as I wonder to which mountain the poem refers. ‘Would it be like this? Sweeping on’ (kakaramashi ya wa uchiharau) connects well with what comes before and after it and sounds tasteful, more or less [nani to naku yū ni kikoehaberu]. The Right must win.

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