Tag Archives: blade of grass

SGSIS XVIII: 1240

Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]

つゆをのみくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり

tsuyu o nomi
kusaba no ue to
omoishi wa
toki matsu hodo no
inochi narikeri
Simply as a dewdrop,
Resting atop a blade of grass—
So I did think;
Such a short thing
Is life.

Izumi Shikibu

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’  If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.

Mandaishū XVIII: 3559

Among poems composed with a character from the Tang poem ‘Looking at my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore’ as its initial sound.[1]

つゆを見てくさばのうへとおもひしはときまつほどのいのちなりけり

tsuyu o mite
kusaba no ue to
omoishi wa
toki matsu hodo no
inochi narikeri
As a dewdrop it appears
Resting atop a blade of grass—
So I did think;
Such a short thing
Is life.

Izumi Shikibu

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] The kanshi in question appears in Wakan rōeishū (II: 789): 観身岸額離根草 論命江頭不繋舟 ‘Thinking on my life, ‘tis but a rootless grass upon the shore; / Thinking on my fate, ‘tis as uncertain as an unmoored boat upon the bank.’  If read as Japanese, this poem would be: mi o kanzureba kishi no hitai ni ne o hanaretaru kusa / mei o ronzureba e no hotori ni tsunagazaru fune. Izumi Shikibu’s poem links with the initial tsu of tsunagazaru, beginning as it does with tsuyu ‘dew’.

GSIS XII: 701

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]

The Kō Handmaid

A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.

[1] An allusive variation on Izumi shikibu-shū 304/Mandaishū XVIII: 3559.

FGS VI: 563

On lightning.

いなづまのしばしもとめぬひかりにも草葉のつゆのかずはみえけり

inazuma no
shibashi mo tomenu
hikari ni mo
kusaba no tsuyu no
kazu wa miekeri
The lightning
Fails to linger for even a moment, yet
In its flash of light
Upon every blade of grass
Appear numerous dewdrops.

Lord Fujiwara no Tamehide

An AI generated image of a field of pampas grass with lighting illuminating droplets of water of the grass.
Created with Adobe Firefly.
A kuzushiji version of the poem's text.
Created with Soan.