✶Gnosis
← Contents
Theme
099 / 101

Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

A Hundred Verses from Old Japan · 99 of 101

98. The Official Iye-Taka: Jūnii Iye-taka

98

The Official Iye-taka

JŪNII IYE-TAKA

Kaze soyogu Nara no ogawa no Yūgure wa Misogi zo natsu no Shirushi nari keri.

THE twilight dim, the gentle breeze By Nara’s little stream, The splash of worshippers who wash Before the shrine, all seem A perfect summer’s dream.

Iye-taka was another of the great Fujiwara family; he died in the year 1237.

The word misogi means the Shinto ceremony of purifying the body before worship by washing or sprinkling with water. This verse is said to have been inscribed on a screen in the apartments of the Empress at Nara.