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A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com


p. 55

55

THE FIRST ADVISER OF STATE KINTŌ

DAI-NAGON KINTŌ

  Taki no oto wa
Taete hisashiku
  Narinuredo
Na koso nagarete
Nao kikoe kere.

THIS waterfall's melodious voice
  Was famed both far and near;
Although it long has ceased to flow,
  Yet still with memory's ear
  Its gentle splash I hear.

This poet was the father of the writer of verse No. 64, and was a member of the Fujiwara family at the zenith of their power; he was a great statesman and scholar, and died in the year 1041. The verse was written in praise of a waterfall that had been made by the orders of the Emperor Saga early in the ninth century, but which had by this time ceased to exist; and the illustration well shows the watercourse now run dry.


Next: 56. Izumi Shikibu