Composed when the Naka Chancellor [Fujiwara no Michitaka] returned from another woman’s residence with the dawn, but rather than coming in, remained outside and went back to his own house.
暁のつゆはまくらにおきけるを草葉のうへとなにおもひけん
akatuki no tuyu Fa makura ni okikeru wo kusaba no uFe to nani omoFiken
At the dawning Dewdrops upon my pillow Have fallen, but Resting atop a blade of grass— Is that what you think of me? [1]
At a time when she was secretly feeling very gloomy, when she was asked why she was so downcast by someone she was close to, who perhaps guessed it was due to love—she thought this in her heart.
もろともにいつかとくべきあふことのかたむすびなるよはのしたひも
morotomo ni ituka tokubeki aFu koto no katamusubi naru yoFa no sitaFimo
Together When might we undo the mystery Of our meeting, and My half-knotted Underbelt at midnight?
[1] The Thirty Day Sutra Recitation (Sanjikkō 三十講)was an event where the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings (Ananta Nirdeśa Sūtra; Jp. Muryōgi-kyō 無量義経), the twenty-eight fascicles of the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram; Jp. Hokke-kyō 法華経) and the Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra (Jp. Kanfugen-kyō 観普賢経) were read aloud over thirty consecutive days, or occasionally over fifteen consecutive days with readings each morning and evening.
Composed on the instructions of His Majesty, on the way back from Sumiyoshi, when he had accompanied him there in the Third Month, Enkyū 5 [April 1073].
おきつかぜふきにけらしな住吉の松のしづえをあらふしらなみ
okitsukaze fukinikerashi na sumiyoshi no matsu no shizue o arau shiranami
The wind in the offing Is gusting, it seems, for At Sumiyoshi The pines’ low branches Are washed by whitecaps.
[i] The Mimosuso River (mimosugawa 御裳濯川) is the name given to the Isuzu River (isuzugawa 五十鈴川) as it flows past the Grand Shrine of Ise, which is dedicated to the ancestral deity of the imperial house, Amaterasu ōmikami 天照大神.