Left (Win).
霞みあへず猶降る雪に空とぢて春物ふかき埋み火のもと
kasumi aezu nao furu yuki ni sora tojite haru monofukaki uzumibi no moto |
No trace of haze and Still the falling snow Seals the sky; Spring lies deep Amongst the buried embers. |
19
Right.
霞しくけさゝへ冴ゆる袂かな雪ふる年や身につもるらん
kasumi shiku kesa sae sayuru tamoto kana yuki furu toshi ya mi ni tsumoruran |
Haze spreads: Today, ‘tis clear Upon my sleeve: Is it with snow fall this year That I am buried? |
20
The Right team state that the final line of the Left’s poem is ‘grating on the ear’, but that otherwise they can find nothing wrong with it. Shunzei remarks somewhat testily, that they are pre-empting his role as judge, but broadly agrees, finding the central image of snow ‘sealing the sky’ particularly fine. He finds the Right’s poem problematic in that ‘haze spreads’ in the middle of spring, and this poem is supposed to be describing the season’s beginning – it should be ‘haze rises’ (kasumi tatsu), and there is nothing remarkable about the rest of it. Thus, he awards the round to the Left.