39

I raised my glass and
of that season's smell
darker than pansies
musk and incense
I have drowsed off

into infatuation
a box of worn shoes
easing off the lid
he has since prospered
he is interior decoration

<<<

45

The lady of the winter garden had decided that, were she to follow custom and submit perfumes according with her own proper season, she would surely lose to those ladies haunted by more candied months. This struck her as jejune, and so she was strenuous to produce some unusual blends of the konoekoo variety. She tasted the methods that Emperor Uda had investigated, and also explored the recipe for the Hundred Steps incense, which Lord Kintada had selected when presenting to the Throne. Such profound research allowed her to combine various formulae and to produce blends of surpassing elegance. Prince Hotaru declared that each of her exhibits had something special to recommend it, which provided Genji the opportunity to observe that "Our judge seems to have remarkably wide tastes." In truth is it said that such a one will never be again!

These are the recipes submitted during this agon, with clandestine admixtures:

                      aloes  cinnamon ground   Indian  sandal     musk   sweet    tropical cloves     white
                                               conch     resin    -wood                pine      tulip                     gum
kuroobo            X          X          X          X          X         X                                  X
jijuu                  X          X          X                                   X          X          X                    
baika                 X          X          X          X          X         X          X
konoekoo                       X          X          X                                                                          X

(Note: judicious use of heterophemy can render cinnamon a synonym for synonym.)