It is mid-January, deep in “small cold and big cold”, but already signs of life are returning to the yard, and the world around us. Inspired, I found this old Japanese waka poem (originally posted in my other blog) composed by a female poet named kunaikyō (宮内卿), also called wakakusa no kunaikyō (若草の宮内卿). This poem, number 76 in the Japanese Imperial anthology named the Shin Kokin Wakashū, has young grass (wakakusa, 若草) as the topic.
| Japanese | Romanization | Translation |
| 薄く濃き | Usuku koki | Light and dark: |
| 野辺のみどりの | Nobe no midori no | the green of the field’s |
| 若草の | Wakakusa no | young herbs |
| あとまで見ゆる | Ato made miyuru | distinct in |
| 雪のむら消え | Yuki no muragie | patches of fading snow. |
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 