Left (Tie).

はるばると荻の燒原立ひばり霞のうちに聲あがるなり

harubaru to ogi no yakehara tatsu hibari kasumi no uchi ni koe agarunari

Into the distance, far, The silver-grass plain is aflame; A skylark takes flight, and From within the haze, its Song soars.

Lord Suetsune.

93

Right (Tie).

春深き野邊の霞の下風に吹かれてあがる夕雲雀哉

haru fukaki nobe no kasumi no shita kaze ni fukarete agaru yū hibari kana

Now is the height of spring, and Haze lies o’er the plains; The breeze beneath Gusts, lifting A skylark, at eventide.

Nobusada.

94

The Right have no comments to make about the Left’s poem, but the Left say they are ‘unused to hearing’ the expression ‘breeze beneath the haze’ (kasumi no shita kaze), and then continue to ask, facetiously, ‘Do you mean to say that skylarks don’t soar without a breeze?’ The Right reply that, ‘when the wind is blowing gently, it appears as if the bird is lifted by it – that is the scene.’

Shunzei states that Left’s poem, with its essence of the skylark’s call emerging from the haze is ‘truly charming’. He did ‘wonder’ about the Right’s essence of the bird being lifted by the breeze, can see the scene of a gentle ‘breeze beneath the haze across the plains’ (nobe no kasumi no shita kaze), and is attracted by both sides’ poems. Thus, there are no winners or losers this round.