Two strokes for “ko,”
the ox-horn shape for “i,”
the straight line “shi,”
the crooked form for “ku”—
thus, my lord, you are.

Meaning

Two strokes for “ko,” the ox-horn shape for “i,” the straight line for “shi,” the crooked form for “ku”—in this way, my lord, you come to mind.

Commentary

Section Sixty-Two: Enshōmon-in in her childhood.
This poem was composed by Enshōmon-in when she was still young, as a message to someone visiting the court.
It conveys that she longs for you and thinks of you with affection.
Though it is a simple, innocent riddle, it lets us glimpse the figure of a small girl waiting for her often-absent father.
“KimI” (a second-person term used for the emperor, retired emperor, or cloistered emperor) here refers to the Retired Emperor Go-Saga; Enshōmon-in was his second daughter, Princess Etsuko.

Author

Yoshida Kenko

Source

Tsurezuregusa

Other

The fence I knew of the girl I once beheld has fallen to ruin; amid mingled cogon grass, violets alone remain.
The palace guards and their men stand far aside; in the unswept court, where no one tends the garden, flowers have fallen and lie.
On plum-blossomed boughs, a bush warbler comes to rest; calling for the spring— yet still, though it calls and calls, the snow keeps falling down.
Over sea and hills, I spent my heart upon the road; no sacred bowl found— from the bowl that was not there, blood-red tears flowed at last.

Two strokes for “ko,” the ox-horn shape for “i,” the straight line “shi,” the crooked form for “ku”— thus, my lord, you are.

Two strokes for “ko,”
the ox-horn shape for “i,”
the straight line “shi,”
the crooked form for “ku”—
thus, my lord, you are.