Tag Archives: Mimosuso River

Kinkai wakashū 619

月さゆるみもすそ川の底きよみいづれの代にかすみはじめけん

tsuki sayuru
mimosusogawa no
soko kiyomi
izure no yo ni ka
sumihajimeken
Chill, the moon
Upon the Mimosuso River,
Its bed so clear—
In which age was it,
That it began to be so, I wonder?[i]

619


[i] See: Composed for a picture of the Rinji Festival at the Kamo Shrine on a folding screen prepared for the entrance of a Junior Consort to the palace in the 6th year of Bunji (1190). 月さゆるみたらし河にかげみえてこほりにすれる山あゐの袖 tsuki sayuru / mitarashigawa ni / kage miete / kōri ni sureru / yama’ai no sode ‘Chill, the moon, / Upon the Mitarashi River / Shines, seeming as / A design of ice upon / Indigo sleeves.’ Master of the Dowager Empress’ Household Office Toshinari (Shinkokinshū XIX: 1889)

GSIS VII: 450

Composed for the Palace Poetry Match in Shōryaku 2 [1078].

君が世はつきじとぞおもふかみかぜやみもすそ川のすまむかぎりは

kimi ga yo wa
tsukiji to zo omou
kamikaze ya
mimosusogawa no
sumamu kagiri wa
My Lord’s reign
Shall never end, I feel!
While beneath the divine winds
The Mimosuso River[i]
Is clear!

Minister of Justice Tsunenobu


[i] The Mimosuso River (mimosugawa 御裳濯川) is the name given to the Isuzu River (isuzugawa 五十鈴川) as it flows past the Grand Shrine of Ise, which is dedicated to the ancestral deity of the imperial house, Amaterasu ōmikami 天照大神.