During the reign of Retired Emperor Horikawa, when Middle Councillor [Minamoto no] Shigesuke (1045-1122) was the Controller of the Chamberlain’s Office, he sent this together with a letter from [his eldest son] Minamoto no Toshishige requesting a position as Secretary in the Ministry of Ceremonial.
日の光あまねき空のけしきにもわが身一つは雲隱れつゝ
Fi no Fikari amaneki sora no kesiki ni mo wa ga mi Fitotu Fa kumo kakuretutu
The sunlight Fills the entire sky; Yet in this sight I alone Am always hidden ’neath the clouds.
Gyōson had been wandering the land for many years honing his ascetic skills when he came to Kumano to join in a test of faith. Lord [Fujiwara no] Suke’ie came to view the ceremony and saw him there, but because he was extraordinarily thin and frail and had completely changed his appearance, did not recognise him, and said to the monk next to him, ‘What manner of man is that? He seem amazingly enlightened!’ Hearing this, Gyōson composed:
心こそ世をば捨てしかまぼろしの姿も人に忘られにけり
kokoro koso yo wo ba sutesi ka maborosi no sugata mo Fito ni wasurarenikeri
In my heart I have left the world behind, yet Even as a phantom Figure, folk have Forgotten me, it seems.
Once when Izumi Shikbu was on her way to Ishiyama, she stopped in Ōtsu; late at night she sensed a crowd of people nearby making an enormous amount of noise. On enquiring what was going on, she was told, ‘Some people from the lower orders are polishing rice,’ and composed this poem.
鷺のゐる松原いかに騷ぐ覽しらげはうたて里とよみけり
sagi no wiru matubara ikani sawaguran sirage Fa utate sato toyomikeri
Egrets dwell Among the pine groves; how Noisy they seem; Their white plumes unpleasantly Echo through the house, it seems.
In the Fourth Month of the First Year of the Ōtoku period (1084) at the Sanjō Palace he composed this on the profusion of leaves on the trees in the garden.
たまがしはにはも葉廣になりにけりこや木綿四手て神まつるころ
tamagasiFa
niFa mo Fabiro ni
narinikeri
koya yuFu sidete
kami maturu koro
The oak trees
In the garden in full fledge
Do stand.
Look! Mulberry streamers flutter
For the gods here now!