Winter II: 19

Left (Win).

冴ゆる夜に鴛鴦の衾を方敷きて袖の氷を拂ひかねつゝ

sayuru yo ni
oshi no fusuma o
katashikite
sode no kōri o
haraikanetsutu
On a freezing night
Beneath my duck-down bedding
I lie alone;
The ice upon my sleeve
I can never brush away…

A Servant Girl.

577

Right.

木の葉をや鳥の上毛に殘すらん閨の衾も冴ゆる霜夜に

ko no ha o ya
tori no uwage ni
nokosuran
neya no fusuma mo
sayuru shimo yo ni
Are there any leaves
Left by the birds
For extra feathers?
The bedding in my chamber
Is frozen with frost tonight…

Jakuren.

578

Neither Left nor Right have anything in particular to say.

Shunzei’s judgement: I wonder about accepting the Left’s ‘Beneath my duck-down bedding I lie alone’ (oshi no fusuma o katashikite). The strengths and weaknesses are plain, and so there is not much more to say than that. The Left wins.

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