iro to koso hagi ga hanazuri omoishika ka sae tamoto ni utsurinuru kana
With hues, indeed, Are the bush-clover blooms dyed Did I think, but Even the scent to my sleeves Has shifted!
Lord Fujiwara no Shige’ie, Minister of Justice 1
Right
あきの野にいづれともなき花なれどまねく薄ぞ先めにはたつ
aki no no ni izure to mo naki hana naredo maneku susuki zo saki me ni wa tatsu
In the autumn meadows All equally fine Are the flowers, yet It is the beckoning silver grass that First catches the eye!
Former Minor Counsellor Fujiwara no Suketaka 2
On perusing the poems of Left and Right, it is not the case that neither has any elements lacking feeling. With that being said, the initial section of the Left’s poem and the final section of the right are not laudable, so after some little thought and being confused by the Left and the Right, reluctantly, I have decided to make this a tie.
The Gentlemen of the Left and Right state the opposing team’s poem lacks thought.
Shunzei’s judgement: The Left draws excessively on conceits of Kyushu. In the Right’s poem, ‘confusion in the fields’ (nobe no mayoi) does not seem to lead anywhere. Both of these poems lack any real conception other than their use of conceits. The round ties.
The Right state that the initial line of the Left’s poem is ‘awkward’ [amari nari], and that they cannot approve of the final use of ya. The Left wonder about the appropriateness of ‘Holds all my regrets’ (uramihatenuru).
Shunzei’s judgement: The Gentlemen of the Right have a number of criticisms of the Left’s poem. However, with careful consideration, while the poem is not tasteful in its entirety [subete yū ni shimo arazaredo], the initial line does not seem that strange, and the final ya is fine, is it not? The Right’s ‘The clumps of miscanthus grass from time to time across the fields do wave’ is tasteful [yū naru], but all that connects with ‘arrowroot’, is the subsequent ‘seeing what lies beneath’. ‘Arrowroot’ is too briefly in the poem for this. The initial and final sections of the Left’s poem have been criticised by the Gentlemen of the Right, but they are not without purpose. Thus, the Left wins.
On receiving a stem of silver grass from that growing before Seiryōden, the Mistress of His Majesty’s Breakfast composed this poem and fastened it to it, saying, ‘Who might have sent this?’
吹く風の心も知らで花すゝきそらに結べる人やたれぞも
Fuku kaze no
kokoro mo sirade
Fana susuki
sora ni musuberu
Fito ya tare zo mo
Of the gusting wind’s
Intentions, I know nothing;
Silver grass
So idly entwined, but
Who has done it?
