samushiro ni iku yo no aki o shinobikinu ima hata onaji uji no hashihime
Beneath a scanty coverlet How many autumns Have I endured alone? Now, indeed, I am the same As the maid at Uji Bridge![1]
515
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. さむしろに衣かたしきこよひもや我をまつらむうぢのはしひめ samushiro ni / koromo katashiki / koyoi mo ya / ware o matsuramu / uji no hashihime ‘Upon a scanty coverlet / Beneath a single robe / On this night, too, / I wonder, does she await me, / My maid at Uji Bridge.’ Anonymous (KKS XIV: 689)
samuki yo wa sagoromo kari no koe kikeba kaesugaesu zo hito wa koishiki
On a night so chill, In a scanty robe, when the goose Cries I hear, Again and yet again Do I long for her…
18
[i] This poem is included in Shinshūishū (XII: 1011), with the headnote, ‘From the poetry match at Tsurayuki’s house’. A variant of it also appears in some Mandaishū (XV: 2458) texts; in others the version provided is as in the contest: From the poetry match held when Tsuryuki was in Suo province. 秋萩におく白露の澄みかへり人をこひしとおもふころかな aki hagi ni / oku shiratsuyu no / sumikaeri / hito o koishi to / omou koro kana ‘In autumn upon the bush-clover / Fall silver dewdrops / Ever clear / Her I loved— / My feelings in those days’.
