yasumisisi
wago opokimi nö
taka sirasu
yosino nö miya pa
tatanaduku
awo kaki kömori
kapa nami nö
kiyoki kaputi sö
paru pe pa
pana saki wo wori
aki sareba
kïri tatiwataru
sono yama nö
iya masumasu ni
könö kapa nö
tayuru kötö naku
momosikï nö
opomiyapitö pa
tune ni kayopamu
All-knowing,
My great lord,
Has raised on high
The palace of Yoshino:
Fenced in by mountains,
Hidden by a blue-green ring;
And as the river flows,
Pure across the flats,
In springtime
The flowers bloom profusely and,
In autumn,
The mists rise across;
As the mountains,
Stretch on and on,
And as the river
Never ceases,
The hundred-fold
Palace courtiers
Come constantly, and depart.
Cockscomb (Celosia cristata) is a herbaceous plant of the amaranth family, having alternately leaves and flowers in spikes. It produces red, yellow and white flowers in autumn, whose sap was used as a dyestuff.
A bit of a departure from the literal sense of the poem here: the Japanese name for Sargasso weed nanoriso, could be taken as meaning ‘name calling grass’, so a more literal translation of the poem would be: On Misago/Beach there grows/Name calling grass/Tell me yours/Though your parents know!