Left (Tie).
もゝしきや射手引く庭の梓弓昔にかへる春に逢ふかな
| momoshiki ya ite hiku niwa no azusa yumi mukashi ni kaeru haru ni au kana |
Hundred fold, the palace, where Archer draw, within the gardens Bows of catalpa wood: Olden times are recalled And meet again, this springtime. |
59
Right (Tie).
梓弓春の雲井に引つれてけしきことなるけふの諸人
| azusa yumi haru no kumoi ni hikitsurete keshiki kotonaru kyô no morobito |
Catalpa bows: In springtime to the cloud-borne palace They are brought; How exceptional the scene: A crowd of noble folk, this day. |
60
The Right query why in the Left’s poem an annual festival should ‘recall olden times’, to which the Right respond that it is normal to compose poems about annual observances as if they had been discontinued and then revived. The Left make no comment about the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement is that, indeed, the Left’s poem had been composed as if an ancient rite had been revived and, furthermore with the reference to an ‘exceptional scene’ the intent had probably been to praise court festivals. Nevertheless, he has to adjudge the round a tie.