Round Four

Left (Win)

あけぬるか霞の衣たちかへり猶君が代の春をまつかな

akenuru ka kasumi no koromo tachikaeri nao kimi ga yo no haru o matsu kana

Is it the breaking dawn that Hazy raiment Casts back? Ever for my Lord’s reign’s Springtime do I pine!

Novice Dōchin

7

Right

天の戸のあけゆく空はうれしきを猶はれやらず立つ霞かな

ama no to no akeyuku sora wa ureshiki o nao hareyarazu tatsu kasumi kana

That Heaven’s door Opens to brighten the sky— What joy, but Still, never clearing is The rising haze!

Dharma Master Nyogan

8

The Left poem’s links with celebration are certainly not something praiseworthy, but I am unable to accept the Right’s ‘joy’. Thus, the Left wins.