Left.
いつしかと移ろふ色の見ゆるかな花心なる八重の白菊
| itsu shika to utsurou iro no miyuru kana hanagokoronaru yae no shiragiku |
All at once Your colours change I see; What a flower’s heart you have, Eightfold chrysanthemum! |
495
Right (Win).
花ならぬ匂ひも後はなき物を移ろひ殘れ庭の白菊
| hana naranu nioi mo nochi wa naki mono wo utsuroinokore niwa no shiragiku |
Flowers are there none, But a trace of scent Of what’s gone Leave trailed behind, O, garden chrysanthemums! |
496
The Right remark that the Left’s poem, ‘seems overly humorous’ [tawabure ni nitari]. The Left counter by wondering, ‘Whether it really is possible to separate flower and scent?’
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s poem, even though it has a ‘flower’s heart’ (hanagokoro) ‘changing’ (utsurou), seems to lack the conception of a poem on ‘lingering chrysanthumums’ [zangiku no kokoro sukunaku kikoyuru ni ya]. As for the Right’s poem, although it is true that flower and scent are not separate, there are poems composed on plum blossom, such as ‘The plum blossoms’/Scent, disturbingly,/Clings to my sleeves’ or ‘Leave behind your scent, at least’, so ‘a trace of scent’ (nioi mo nochi wa) does not seem to be a fault. ‘Leave trailed behind’ (utsuroinokore), too, is not unpleasant [yoroshikarazaru ni arazu]. The Right should win.