Sanekata Shū 183

When Lady Saishō from the Sen’yōden had returned to her estate, I called but got the impression that she already had company; returning home, I sent this to her using a woman I had come across washing water-celery in the Nakagawa River.

なかゞはにすゝく田芹のねたき事あらはれてこそあるべかりけれ

nakagaFa ni
susuku taseri no
netaki koto
araFarete koso
arubekarikere
In Nakagawa
Rinsing water-celery
Roots – green-eyed;
That another had appeared,
You should have said plainly.

2 thoughts on “Sanekata Shū 183”

    1. I don’t know enough about the plant to be able to say when it could be harvested, but generally, while the poetic connotations of a plant, bird, or animal would be rooted in their actual behaviours and seasonality, the generally accepted poetic view was more important then reality. So, for example, a refernce to tachibana (orange blossom) automatically made a poem a ‘Summer’ one, even though you might get the blossom appearing in calendrical spring.

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