Love I: 29

Left (Tie).

たどりつる道に今宵は更けにけり杉の梢に在明の月

tadoritsuru
michi ni koyoi wa
fukenikeri
sugi no kozue ni
ariake no tsuki
Trailing along
The roads, tonight
Has ended, with
The cedar tops touched
By the dawntime moon.

A Servant Girl.

657

Right.

心こそ行方も知らぬ三輪の山杉の木ずゑの夕暮の空

kokoro koso
yukue mo shiranu
miwa no yama
sugi no kozue no
yūgure no sora
My heart’s
Heading I know not!
On Mount Miwa above
The cedar tops lies
The dusking evening sky.

Nobusada.

658

The Gentlemen of both the Left and Right state that they find no faults in the opposing poem.

Shunzei’s judgement: The Left has ‘cedar tops touched by the dawntime moon’ (sugi no kozue ni ariake no tsuki) and the Right has ‘cedar tops lies the dusking evening sky’ (sugi no kozue no yūgure no sora) – both poems are charming [okashiku mo haberu]. While the Left lacks a reference to Mount Miwa, this makes it sound all the more charming, I think. ‘Dawntime moon’ is particularly fine in its tranquillity, but the Right’s ‘dusking evening sky’ is by no means inferior, so, again, the round should tie.

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