Waga sode wa
Shiohi ni mienu
Oki no ishi no
Hito koso shirane
Kawaku ma mo nashi.
SANUKI, IN ATTENDANCE ON THE RETIRED EMPEROR NIJŌ
My sleeve is wet with floods of tears
As here I sit and cry;
’Tis wetter than a low-tide rock,
No one, howe’er he try,
Can find a spot that ’s dry!
The Lady Sanuki was one of the Minamoto family, and lived at the Court of the Emperor Nijō, who reigned A.D. 1159–1165. She was the daughter of the retired Emperor Goshirakawa, and died A.D. 1165.
