Spring I: 10

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.

Lord Sada’ie

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?

Lord Takanobu

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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *