A Hundred Verses from Old Japan · 26 of 101

25. The Minister-of-the-Right of the Sanjō (District of Kyōto): Sanjō Udaijin

25

THE MINISTER-OF-THE-RIGHT OF THE SANJŌ (DISTRICT OF KYŌTO)

SANJŌ UDAIJIN

Na ni shi owaba Ausaka yama no Sanekazura Hito ni shirarede Kuru yoshi mo gana.

HEAR thou art as modest as The little creeping spray Upon Mount Ōsaka, which hides Beneath the grass; then, pray, Wander with me to-day.

The writer’s real name was Sadakata Fujiwara, and he died A.D. 932. For an account of the Fujiwara family see verse No. 18. Mount Ōsaka mentioned here is the same place as that referred to in verse No. 10, and when spelled Ausaka it means ‘a hill of meeting ‘. The suggestion is, that if she is really like the creeping vine which grows on Meeting Hill, she will come and meet him.