When he was passing through the fields, having gone down to Michinoku, he saw an impressive tomb and asked whose it was; he was told it was the tomb of ‘the Captain’. On asking which Captain, he was told they meant Sanekata; it was winter, and he absently noted the miscanthus grass all around was withered by the frost and, feeling that there was nothing [there] that suited the time…
くちもせぬその名ばかりをとゞめをきてかれ野のすゝきかたみとぞみる
| kuchi mo senu sono na bakari o todomeokite kareno no sususki katami to zo miru |
Imperishable His name alone Remains left here; The frost-burned field of miscanthus Will be my keepsake. |
The Monk Saigyō
西行
A poem composed at a poetry competition held by Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager, during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
秋の野の草のたもとか花すすきほにいでてまねく袖と見ゆらむ
| aki no no no kusa no tamoto ka Fana susuki Fo ni idete maneku sode to miyuran | In the autumn fields Does the grass have cuffs Of flowering miscanthus? The ripe ears are beckoning Sleeves, or so they seem. |
Ariwara no Muneyana
Topic unknown.
今よりはうゑてだに見じ花すすきほにいづる秋はわびしかりけり
| ima yori Fa uFete dani mizi Fana susuki Fo ni iduru aki Fa wabisikarikeri |
Henceforth Were I to plant them, I’d not look upon Miscanthus flowers in Autumn, when the ears are swelling; How lonely… |
Taira no Sadafun
平定文