Composed during the reign of former Emperor Ichijō, when His Majesty was presented with a gift of some eightfold cherry blossom from Nara and, being in attendance, he ordered her to composed a poem on this gift of blossom.
いにしへのならの宮このやへざくらけふここのへににほひぬるかな
| inishie no nara no miyako no yaezakura kyō kokonoe ni nioinuru kana | The ancient Capital of Nara had Eightfold cherry blossom, that Today within the ninefold palace Does shine! |
Ise no Taiyū
Left (Win).
あか月にあらぬ別も今はとて我が世ふくれば添ふ思ひかな
| akatsuki ni aranu wakare mo ima wa tote wa ga yo fukureba sou omoi kana |
At dawn This parting is not; Now it is When my life reaches twilight – I think… |
Lord Sada’ie.
851
Right.
翁さび身は惜しからぬ戀衣今はと濡れん人なとがめそ
| okina sabi mi wa oshikaranu koigoromo ima wa to nuren hito na togame so |
Feeling like an ancient, But I regret it not! My loving clothes: Now’s the time to dampen them But blame me not! |
Jakuren.
852
The Right state: the Left’s poem has no faults to mention. The Left state: we wonder about the appropriateness of ‘now’s the time to dampen them’ (ima wa to nuren).
In judgement: ‘Feeling like an ancient’ (okina sabi) ‘now’s the time to dampen them’ (ima wa to nuren) does not sound like it fits formally with ‘but I regret it not!’ (mi wa oshikaranu). The Left, in addition to sounding like it has no faults, has ‘this parting is not; now it is’ (aranu wakare mo ima wa tote), which certainly sounds right. It is superior.