Left.
面影も別れに變る鐘の音にならひ悲しき東雲の空
| omokage mo wakare ni kawaru kane no oto ni narai kanashiki shinonome no sora |
That your face Is transformed to parting By the bell’s toll: How sad this custom From the eastern skies! |
Lord Sada’ie.
789
Right (Win).
暁の涙やせめてたぐふらん袖に落ち來る鐘の音かな
| akatsuki no namida ya semete tagūran sode ni ochikuru kane no oto kana |
At dawn, are My tears, forced to be Like them? Falling on my sleeves: The tolls of the bell! |
Nobusada.
790
The Right state: the sense of the Left’s poem is difficult to grasp on hearing. The Left state: the expression ‘forced to be’ (semete) seems out of place in the context of the Right’s poem.
In judgement: The Left’s poem, just as was said of Kisen’s poetry – that it was ‘obscure of diction and indefinite from beginning to end’ – seems to be in just such a style. The Right’s poem, while it does not, in fact, sound like a suitable context for ‘forced to be’ (semete), provides a profound conception in ‘falling on my sleeves’ (sode ni ochikuru). The Right should win.