Left.

夕間暮あはれこもれる野原かな霧の籬に鶉鳴く也

yūmagure aware komoreru nohara kana kiri no magaki ni uzura nakunari

In the early evening dusk How melancholy is The plain; From beyond a fence of mist The quails are crying.

Lord Ari’ie.

343

Right.

移し植へし萩が籬の荒れ行をまことの野邊となす鶉哉

utsushiueshi hagi ga magaki no areyuku o makoto no nobe to nasu usura kana

My transplanted Bush clover by the fence is Disturbed and Truly, ‘tis the plain Again, with quails.

Nobusada.

344

The Right state that ‘“Fence of mist” (kiri no magaki) is an unclear expression.’ The Left counter that they are ‘unaccustomed to the expression “bush clover by the fence” (hagi ga magaki).’

Shunzei states, ‘With regard to the respective criticisms of the gentlemen of the Left and Right, in this context “fence of mist” is a perfectly standard expression. “Bush clover by the fence”, too, needs no real explanation. In fact, the Left’s poem is straightforward, and the Right’s charming: melancholy in the mists, and the charming cries from beneath the bush clover – it is impossible to say which is the winner, and so the round must tie.