On a folding screen for the celebrations of the birthday of Her Majesty, the Empress in Shōhei 4.[1]
色かへぬ松と竹とのすゑの世をいづれひさしと君のみぞ見む
iro kaFenu matu to take no suwe no yo wo idure hisasi to kimi nomi zo mimu
Ever unchanging hues Have the pine and bamboo— In the ages to come Which is more eternal? My Lady, alone, will see!
The Handmaid to the Ise Virgin
Created with Soan.
[1] The empress in question was Fujiwara no Onshi (Yasuko) 藤原穏子 (885-954), the consort of Emperor Daigo. The birthday being marked was her fiftieth, with the celebrations taking place on the 26th day of the Third Month, Shōhei 承平 4 [12.5.934].
When a man who had come to see her around the Eighth Month left behind his fan, which was decorated with a picture of bamboo leaves spotted with dewdrops, after some time had passed, she returned it, with this.
しののめにおきてわかれし人よりはひさしくとまる竹の葉の露
shinonome ni okite wakareshi hito yori wa hisashiku tomaru take no ha no tsuyu
At the break of dawn He rose and left— That man, but Much longer lingered Dewdrops on the bamboo leaves.
