Left.
雉子鳴く嵯峨野の原の御幸には古き跡をや先尋ぬらん
| kigisu naku sagano no hara no miyuki ni wa furuki ato o ya saki tazunuran |
The pheasants cry In the fields of Sagano; On this Imperial Progress, The traces of times long gone Should we visit first? |
533
Right (Win).
すべらぎの今日の御幸は御狩野の草葉も靡く物にぞ有ける
| suberagi no kyō no miyuki wa mikarino no kusaha mo nabiku mono ni zo arikeru |
On His Majesty’s Progress on this day To His hunting grounds The very blades of grass do bow Before Him |
The Provisional Master of the Empress’ Household Office.
534
The Right state that pheasants do not cry out during the winter, to which the Left reply that this is seen occasionally in recent poetry. The Left then comment that mi occurs too often in the Right’s poem.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left’s ‘traces of times long gone’ (furuki ato o ya) is most fine [yoroshiku haberubeshi]. On pheasants crying in winter, it goes without saying that they do not, and in this poem in particular, I wonder about the appropriateness of ‘pheasants crying’ (because it was convention to avoid anything with potentially negative associations in a poem on the topic of Imperial Visits). The Right’s poem commences with ‘His Majesty’ (suberagi no) and continues with ‘the very blades of grass do bow’ (kusaha mo nabiku) which has felicitous associations. Thus, the Right must win.