The apartment where Fujiwara no Toshimoto had lived when he was Middle Captain in the Right Imperial Bodyguards became vacant after his death and, late one autumn night when Arisuke was returning to the palace he glanced inside, noticing that the gardens which had been planted were growing in disorderly profusion and, as he had been in service there himself, he recalled times long past and composed:
君がうへし一群すゝき蟲のねのしげき野邊ともなりにけるかな
| kimi ga uFesi Fito mura sususki musi no ne no sigeki nobe to mo narinikeru kana | My Lord, you planted A single clump of silver grass: The insects’ cries Are as profuse as the swath It has become… |
Miharu no Arisuke
It is a shortcoming that this Miharu no Arisuke poet is not able to provide any information .His poem is more valuable than the works of many great poets.Help find information .
I’m afraid there’s very little information known about him. He was apparently a retainer of Fujiwara no Toshiyuki, and came from Kawachi province. He was appointed a Junior Assistant Lieutenent in the Outer Palace Guards in 902, and then promoted to Supernumerary Junior Lieutenant ten years later in 912. He has only two poems in this anthology – this one and KKS XIII: 629. Hope that helps.
Where can you find biographical sketches of figures in the Kokinshū and similar works? Are any of these sources translated into English?
It depends how reliable you want your sources to be. Wikipedia, for all its faults and caveats, has some pretty good basic entries on many of the poets. For something more authoritative, I’d suggest a good encyclopedia, such as the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan.