Wakana New Herbs

Tags

boussokusekika, Kashiwagi, Murasaki Shikibu, New Herbs, Tale of Genji, Third princess, Wakanajo

 

Third Princess, your pet

climbed onto the balcony.

Oh, Kashiwagi,

why should you desire it when

you are not a cat lover?

Hanachirusato

Tags

boussokusekika, cuckoo, Hanachirusata, orange blossom, Tale of Genji

 

So unassuming,

you were a Falling Flower.

A cuckoo beckons;

I smell the orange blossoms

and fond memories flood back.

Hahakigi: The Broom Tree

Tags

boussokusekika, Tale of Genji, The Broom Tree, Utagawa Toyokuni, Utsusemi

(Artist:Utagawa Toyokuni; Denman Waldo Ross collection, Museum Fine Arts, Boston)

 

Vice-governor’s wife

was as a broom tree growing

in a shabby yard.

She chose her safe marriage,

for rank dictated conduct.

Kifune Jinja

Tags

boussokusekika, Kifune jinja, oni, The Hour of the OX

(Creative Commons.  Photo by Chi King, 2010)

 

Concluding The Twenty Two Japanese Shrines series.

 

Candles on your head;

curse at The Hour of the Ox.

The resident god

will transform to an oni*

and exact vengeance for you.

 

• demon

If you have enjoyed these recent series, then you might like

the Hiroshige poems on  my site ( October 2016)

 

Cindy, you have read them, I know!

Niukawakami jinja

Tags

boussokusekika, dragon gods, Niukawakami, weather

(Photo by Bakkai, 2007, at Japanese Wikipedia)

 

Three shrines deify

different dragon gods.  They

regulate weather:

offer black horses for rain;

white horses ensure sunshine.

Kitano- Tenmangu

Tags

boussokusekika, geiko, Kitano-Tenmangu, maiko

(Creative Commons.  Photo by 663highland, 19/2/11)

 

Angry bureaucrat-

scholar and poet exile –

has to be appeased.

Geiko and maiko serve tea

beneath blossom and lanterns.

Yasaka jinja

Tags

boussokusekika, Gion Matsuri, hoko, palanquins, yama, Yasaka jinja

(Photo: Creative Commons)

 

The gods’ palanquins

were paraded through the streets:

the epidemic

stemmed. Giant hoko and yama*

commemorate shown mercy.

 

• floats

.

 

Hirota jinja

Tags

Amaterasu, azaleas, boussokusekika, Hirota jinja

(Orig uploader -Whogue at English Wikipedia, 7/2007;

Photo by W Hogue, 2007; transferred by Kurpfalzbilder.de)

 

Famed azaleas

grace the place where the Empress

obeyed the goddess.

Amaterasu declared

she needed a shrine.

Hiyoshi Taisha

Tags

boussokusekika, Daimyo, Hiyoshi taisha, Tenka Fubu

And now for the final Eight, Lower rank, in my series of boussokusekika

on the twenty two shrines:

(Wikimedia Commons Photo:

663highland; June 2008.)

 

Hiyoshi Taisha

 

Your shrine was once burnt

when a Daimyo killed his foes

and yet he was blessed:

unification expressed

in ‘Tenka Fubu.’*

 

• ‘Rule the Empire by Force!’

Sumiyosha taisha

Tags

boussokusekika, hakushaseishou, Sumiyoshi

(Creative Commons.  Image by KENPEI, June 2007)

 

 

The Sumiyoshi

are the gods of war on sea.

The shrine’s parkland

(hakushaseishou landscape)

inspired works of art.