wakana tsumu toshi wa henuredo kasugano no nomori wa kyō ya haru o shiruramu
Plucking fresh herbs do The years pass by, yet On Kasuga Plain, The wardens today Must truly know ‘tis spring. [1]
Mitsune 19
Left (Tie)
けふ見てぞわれはしりぬるはなはなほかすがののべのものにぞありける
kyō mite zo ware wa shirinuru hana wa nao kasuga no nobe no mono ni zo arikeru
Today did I see, and Understood it well, that Blossom, truly, Upon the meadows of Kasuga Is best of all.
20
Right
ありへてもかすがののもりはるにあふはとしもわかなもつめるしるしか
arihete mo kasuga no nomori haru ni au wa toshi mo wakana mo tsumeru shirushi ka
Over passing ages, For the wardens of Kasuga, Encountering the springtime, The years and the fresh herbs, both, Have garnered as a sign, perhaps.
21
[1] A variant of this poem occurs in Shokugosenshū: In the twenty-first year of the same era, on a day when the Kyōgoku Lady of the Bedchamber visited the shrine at Kasuga, he composed this in place of the official from the province of Yamato. としごとにわかなつみつつかすが野ののもりもけふやはるをしるらん toshi goto ni / wakana tsumitsutsu / kasugano no / nomori mo kyō ya / haru o shiruran ‘Every single year / Ever plucking fresh herbs / On Kasuga Plain / The wardens, too, today / Must truly know ‘tis spring.’Mitsune (XVI: 1032/1029)
[2] A minor variant of this poem occurs in Kokinshū (I: 14), attributed to Ōe no Chisato: 鶯の谷よりいづる声なくは春来ることを誰かしらまし uguisu no / tani yori izuru / koe naku wa / haru kuru koto o / tare ka shiramashi ‘If the bush-warbler / From the valleys / Did not sing his song, / That spring is coming / Would anyone realise at all?’; also Shinsen man’yōshū 261.
