Winter II: 2

Left (Win).

宿ごとに絶えぬ朝餉の煙さへ冬の氣色はさびしかりけり

yadogoto ni
taenu asake no
kemuri sae
fuyu no keshiki wa
sabishikarikeri
From every house
Unending is the breakfasts’
Smoke – and even that
Makes a winter scene
All the more lonely.

Lord Ari’ie.

543

Right.

朝まだき嵐は庭を渡れども雪には跡もつかぬ也けり

asa madaki
arashi wa niwa o
wataredomo
yuki ni wa ato mo
tsukanu narikeri
Early in the morning
The storm wind, o’er my garden
Gusts, yet
Upon the fallen snow no trace
It leaves.

Lord Tsune’ie.

544

The Right say the Left’s poem ‘isn’t bad’ [ashikarazu]. The Left say the Right’s poem is ‘commonplace’ [tsune no koto nari].

Shunzei’s judgement: Although the Left’s ‘unending is the breakfasts’ smoke – and even that’ (taenu asake no kemuri sae) is lacking in poetic qualities [utashina no naku wa haberedo], the gentlemen of the Right have judged it not to be bad. As for the Right, if a storm blows through a garden, even if there is no snow, surely there would be some trace of it, wouldn’t there? The Left should win.

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