Topic unknown.[i]
はるしれと谷のほそみづもりぞくるいはまの氷ひまたえにけり
| haru shire to tani no hosomizu mori zo kuru iwama no kōri hima taenikeri | ‘Realise ‘tis spring!’, says The trickle of water through the valley Leaking out from The ice between the rocks, where Cracks have appeared.[ii] |
[i] This poem has an alternate headnote: ‘On mountain waters announcing [spring], when various people were composing poems for the Bosatsu’in Ise Virgin.’ Gotō (1982, 12) notes that this is an erroneous reference to Imperial Princess Muneko (Tōshi) 統子内親王 (1126-1189), later known as Jōsaimon’in 上西門院, who, in fact, served as Kamo Virgin.
[ii] Saigyō composed on a similar theme for the Mimosugawa uta’awase 御裳濯河歌合 (‘Mimosugawa Poetry Match’; 1187) of his own poems: 岩まとぢし氷もいまはとけ初めて苔の下水道もとむなり iwama tojishi / kōri mo ima wa / tokehajimete / koke no shitamizu / michi motomu nari ‘Cracks between the crags sealed / By ice, now / Beginning to melt, and / The water ‘neath the ice / Seeks to find its way.’(Mimosugawa uta’awase 22)
