Spring I: 13

Left (Win).

つらゝゐし汀を渡る春風に池のこゝろも解けやしぬらん

tsuraraishi
migiwa o wataru
harukaze ni
ike no kokoro mo
toke ya shinuran
The ice-bound
Waters’ edge a’crossing goes
The breath of spring;
Has the mere’s heart, too,
Melted?

Kenshō

25

Right.

雪つもろ峰に春日やさしつらむ谷の小川の水まさり行

yuki tsumoru
mine ni haruhi ya
sashitsuramu
tani no ogawa no
mizu masariyuku
Upon the snow-laden
Peaks has the spring sun
Shone?
For the valley streamlets are
With water overflowing…

Lord Tsune’ie

26

Neither team had anything deep to say about the other’s poem this round.

Shunzei states that, while both are of the same quality, the phrase ‘spring sun’ (haruhi) was not one that he liked to see used (why remains unclear, although there is speculation that it was because it was an ancient term dating from the Man’yōshū), and so the Left’s poem was just the winner.

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