Topic unknown.[i]

はるしれと谷のほそみづもりぞくるいはまの氷ひまたえにけり

haru shire to tani no hosomizu mori zo kuru iwama no kōri hima taenikeri

‘Realise ‘tis spring!’, says The trickle of water through the valley Leaking out from The ice between the rocks, where Cracks have appeared.[ii]

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[i] This poem has an alternate headnote: ‘On mountain waters announcing [spring], when various people were composing poems for the Bosatsu’in Ise Virgin.’ Gotō (1982, 12) notes that this is an erroneous reference to Imperial Princess Muneko (Tōshi) 統子内親王 (1126-1189), later known as Jōsaimon’in 上西門院, who, in fact, served as Kamo Virgin.

[ii] Saigyō composed on a similar theme for the Mimosugawa uta’awase 御裳濯河歌合 (‘Mimosugawa Poetry Match’; 1187) of his own poems: 岩まとぢし氷もいまはとけ初めて苔の下水道もとむなり iwama tojishi / kōri mo ima wa / tokehajimete / koke no shitamizu / michi motomu nari ‘Cracks between the crags sealed / By ice, now / Beginning to melt, and / The water ‘neath the ice / Seeks to find its way.’(Mimosugawa uta’awase 22)