Left (Win).

宿ごとに絶えぬ朝餉の煙さへ冬の氣色はさびしかりけり

yadogoto ni taenu asake no kemuri sae fuyu no keshiki wa sabishikarikeri

From every house Unending is the breakfasts’ Smoke – and even that Makes a winter scene All the more lonely.

Lord Ari’ie.

543

Right.

朝まだき嵐は庭を渡れども雪には跡もつかぬ也けり

asa madaki arashi wa niwa o wataredomo yuki ni wa ato mo tsukanu narikeri

Early in the morning The storm wind, o’er my garden Gusts, yet Upon the fallen snow no trace It leaves.

Lord Tsune’ie.

544

The Right say the Left’s poem ‘isn’t bad’ [ashikarazu]. The Left say the Right’s poem is ‘commonplace’ [tsune no koto nari].

Shunzei’s judgement: Although the Left’s ‘unending is the breakfasts’ smoke – and even that’ (taenu asake no kemuri sae) is lacking in poetic qualities [utashina no naku wa haberedo], the gentlemen of the Right have judged it not to be bad. As for the Right, if a storm blows through a garden, even if there is no snow, surely there would be some trace of it, wouldn’t there? The Left should win.