55. The First Adviser of State Kintō: Dai-Nagon Kintō
55
THE FIRST ADVISER OF STATE KINTŌ
DAI-NAGON KINTŌ
Taki no oto wa
Taete hisashiku
Narinuredo
Na koso nagarete
Nao kikoe kere.
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.