Composed when it was said that a poetry competition was to be held at the residence of the Ninna Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber. 花のちることやわびしき春霞たつたの山のうぐひすのこゑ
Fana no tiru koto ya wabisiki Farugasumi tatuta no yama no uguFisu no kowe
The falling of the flowers Is sad, indeed; In the spring haze On Tatsuta Mountain A warbler cries…
Composed when it was said that a poetry competition was to be held at the residence of the Ninna Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber. 惜しと思ふ心は糸に縒られなむ散る花ごとに貫きてとどめむ
osi to omoFu kokoro Fa ito ni yorarenamu tiru Fana goto ni nukite todomemu
A regretful Heart with threads Does seem to be entangled; Every single scattered bloom Will I thread on them to keep.
[2]This poem is included in Kokinshū (II: 114) and also in Sosei-shū 素性集 (16), where in some versions the headnote reads ‘[Composed] on the profusion of blossom when it was decided there would be poetry match at the residence of the Ninnaji Middle Captain Lady of the Bedchamber’.
Fana no tiru koto ya wabisiki Farugasumi tatuta no yama no uguFisu no kowe
The falling of the flowers Is sad, indeed; In the spring haze On Tatsuta Mountain A warbler cries…
Fujiwara no Chikage
[1] It was taboo to record the personal names of noble women of high rank unless they were made empress. The Ninna 仁和 period began on the 11th day of the Third Month, 885, and lasted until the 30th day of the Fifth Month, 889. ‘Lady of the Bedchamber’ (miyasudokoro 御息所) was a title given to imperial consorts who had given birth to a prince, while ‘Middle Captain’ (chūjō 中将) was a military position in the palace guards. Contemporary readers would have been able to identify who the ‘Lady who had given birth to an imperial prince and whose father held the position of Middle Captain during the Ninna period’ was, but modern scholarship has not done so; nor have full records of this poetry competition survived.