Left (Tie)
人待つと荒れ行く閨のさむしろに払はぬ塵を払ふ秋風

hito matsu to areyuku neya no samushiro ni harawanu chiri o harau akikaze

Awaiting him in A dilapidated room’s Chill blankets, The dust I’ve left untouched is Brushed by the cloying wind of autumn.

A Servant Girl
1137

Right
夜もすがら泪ながるる狭筵は払はぬ塵も積もらざりけり

yomosugara namida nagaruru samushiro wa harawanu chiri mo tsumorazarikeri

All night long My tears flow upon My blanket, so Even the dust I’ve left untouched Does not pile up…

Jakuren
1138

The Right state: we wonder about the appropriateness of the autumn wind blowing into a bedroom. The Left state: the Right’s poem has no faults to mention.

In judgment: while it does not sound as if there is a clear winner or loser between the ‘dust I’ve left untouched’ (harawanu chiri) used by both parties, why on earth should the autumn wind not blow into the Left’s bedroom? Really, there is no fault at all in saying that the wind will blow into a dilapidated bedroom! The Right has ‘dust I’ve left untouched’ flowing away with the speaker’s tears, and lacks any faults from beginning to end, but the configuration of the Left’s concluding ‘dust I’ve left untouched is brushed by the cloying wind of autumn’ is superior. The initial section of this poem is a little lacking, however, so both poems are equivalent and should tie.