When he had first gone to the residence of the former Regent and Rokujō Minister, and people were composing on the conception of long clear pond waters.
今年だに鏡と見ゆる池水の千世経てすまむ影ぞゆかしき
| kotosi dani kagami to miyuru ikemidu no tiyo Fete sumamu kage zo yukasiki |
Especially this year A mirror it does seem: This pond water – Clear through the passage of a thousand ages, How I long for its light! |
Fujiwara no Norinaga
藤原範永
Left (Win).
つらゝゐし汀を渡る春風に池のこゝろも解けやしぬらん
| tsuraraishi migiwa o wataru harukaze ni ike no kokoro mo toke ya shinuran |
The ice-bound Waters’ edge a’crossing goes The breath of spring; Has the mere’s heart, too, Melted? |
25
Right.
雪つもろ峰に春日やさしつらむ谷の小川の水まさり行
| yuki tsumoru mine ni haruhi ya sashitsuramu tani no ogawa no mizu masariyuku |
Upon the snow-laden Peaks has the spring sun Shone? For the valley streamlets are With water overflowing… |
26
Neither team had anything deep to say about the other’s poem this round.
Shunzei states that, while both are of the same quality, the phrase ‘spring sun’ (haruhi) was not one that he liked to see used (why remains unclear, although there is speculation that it was because it was an ancient term dating from the Man’yōshū), and so the Left’s poem was just the winner.