The apartment where Fujiwara no Toshimoto had lived when he was Middle Captain in the Right Imperial Bodyguards became vacant after his death and, late one autumn night when Arisuke was returning to the palace he glanced inside, noticing that the gardens which had been planted were growing in disorderly profusion and, as he had been in service there himself, he recalled times long past and composed:
君がうへし一群すゝき蟲のねのしげき野邊ともなりにけるかな
kimi ga uFesi Fito mura sususki musi no ne no sigeki nobe to mo narinikeru kana
My Lord, you planted A single clump of silver grass: The insects’ cries Are as profuse as the swath It has become…
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.