A poem composed on receiving a missive from His Majesty, the Senior Retired Emperor.[i]
大君の勅をかしこみちちわくに心はわくとも人にいはめやも
| ōkimi no choku o kashikomi chichiwaku ni kokoro wa waku tomo hito ni iwame ya mo | My Great Lord’s Dread missive In various ways Brings confusion to my heart, yet Never shall I speak of it to other folk…[ii] |
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[i] A reference to Gotoba 後鳥羽 (1180-1239; r. 1183-1198). The occasion Sanetomo is referring to here is unclear, but Higuchi (2016, 189) suggests this may have been a congratulatory message sent by Gotoba to Sanetomo following the latter’s defeat of an attempted rebellion by Wada Yoshimori 和田義盛 (1147-1213), one of the bakufu’s senior retainers, in May 1213.
[ii] See: A poem by Chief Border Guard Hasetsukabe no miyatsuko Hitomaro. 於保吉美能 美許等可之古美 伊蘇尓布理 宇乃波良和多流 知知波波乎於伎弖 ōkimi no / mikoto kashikomi / iso ni furi / unohara wataru / chichihaha o okite ‘At my Great Lord’s / Dread command, / Striking the rocky shore / The sea-plain shall I cross / Leaving father and mother behind…’ (Man’yōshū XX: 4328)