Left

あきののをみなへしるともささわけにぬれにしそでやはなとみゆらむ

aki no no o mina heshiru to mo sasa wake ni nurenishi sode ya hana to miyuramu

Through the autumn meadows Everyone knows to pass, yet Forging through the dwarf bamboo Will my sleeves, so drenched, Appear as the flowers do?[1]

3

Right

をみなへしあきののかぜにうちなびきこころひとつをたれによすらん

ominaeshi aki no nokaze ni uchinabiki kokoro hitotsu o tare ni yosuran

The maidenflower, With a breeze across the autumn fields, Waves back and forth; Having but a single heart, To whom does she incline, I wonder?

The Minister of the Left[2]
4[3]

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[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.

[2] Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871-909).

[3] Kokinshū IV: 230; Shinsen man’yōshū 532; Kokin rokujō 3660