Left.
鷹の子を手にも据へねど鶉鳴く淡津の原に今日も暮しつ
| taka no ko o te ni mo suenedo uzura naku awazu no hara ni kyō mo kurashitsu |
A hawklet On my arm have I not, yet The quails are crying On Awazu plain, as The day turns dark. |
337
Right.
秋といへば鶉鳴くなり原鹿の音をこそ花に任すれ
| aki to ieba uzura naku nari kohagiwara shika no ne o koso hana ni makasure |
Autumn is The quails crying, while From a field of fresh bush clover, The stags’ call, Summoned by the blossoms. |
338
The Right state they have no particular criticisms of the Left this round. The Left, however, remark that, ‘“Quails” do not have such a general reputation. The use of “summoned by the blossoms” (hana ni makasure) is also dubious.’
Shunzei remarks, ‘The Left’s poem would seem to be in the spirit of the popular song “A Hawklet”, except that here the poet lacks the hawklet and “on Awazu plain, the day turns dark” (awazu no hara ni kyō mo kurashitsu). I can only think that he has spent the entire day there wondering about hunting quail! I also feel that the poem’s whole construction is rather commonplace. The Right’s poem is, indeed, poetic, and were there an exemplar poem for the blossoms summoning “the stags’ call” (shika no ne), I would make it the winner. In its absence, the round ties.’