When Lord Kanesuke had been promoted from Consultant Middle Captain to Middle Counsellor, the following year he went to the banquet held by the winner of the New Year Archery and composed this when all and sundry were recounting their thoughts.
旧里のみかさの山はとほけれど声は昔のうとからぬかな
| Furusato no mikasa no yama Fa toFokeredo kowe Fa mukasi no utokaranu kana | My ancient home Upon Mikasa Mountain is Distant, yet Your voices mean those bygone days I cannot dislike! |
Lord Kanesuke
The flowers before him at the Uda Mansion were particularly beautiful in the morning dew, so he summoned her to show her.
白露のかはるもなにかをしからんありてののちもややうきものを
| siratuyu no kaFaru mo nani ka wosikaran arite no noti mo yaya ukimono wo | What, of the silver dewdrops Changing Might I regret? For even after they have been Somewhat hard will be this world… |
His Majesty, the Priestly Retired Emperor
After he had already grown old, he planted a flowering plum and, at the beginning of the year when he had something on his mind
うゑし時花見むとしもおもはぬにさきちる見ればよはひ老いにけり
| uesi toki Fana mimu to simo omoFanu ni sakitiru mireba yoFai oinikeri | When I planted them, These blossoms to see I did not think, but Seeing them bloom and scatter, Such is my old age! |
Lord Fujiwara no Sukemoto
藤原扶幹朝臣
Sent to the Princess of the Fourth.[i]
葦たづの沢辺に年はへぬれども心は雲のうへにのみこそ
| asitadu no saFabe ni tosi Fa Fenuredomo kokoro Fa kumo no uFe ni nomi koso | Among the reeds, a crane, By the marsh’s edge years Have passed, yet, His heart is for the clouds’ Heights, alone… |
The Minister of the Right
753
[i] Princess Isoko (Kinshi) 勤子 (904-938), the fifth daughter of Emperor Daigo 醍醐 (885-930; r. 897-930) (her sobriquet comes from her rank – shihon 四品 (‘Fourth Order’). She was to marry Fujiwara no Morosuke 藤原師輔 (909-960), who writes to her here, in 930, after a secret affair, becoming the first imperial princess to marry a commoner. She is chiefly remembered today, however, as the patron of Minamoto no Shitagō 源順 (911-983) who ordered him to produce Japan’s first dictionary, Wamyō ruijushō 和名類聚抄 (931-938).
