とほき世のかりょうびんがのわたくし児田螺はぬるきみづ恋ひにけり
斉藤 茂吉（1882～1953)
A water snail,
a come-by-chance
of a heavenly bird
in her previous life,
is longing for lukewarm water
Mokichi Saitō
I visited the garden of Ume-no- Miya shrine in Kyoto
as this garden of deity is famous for seasonal flowers.
Now, the beginning of rainy season, is the time of flowering of sweet flag
( sort of iris), and we can see some water lilies on the pond, and some
azaleas are still blooming at the edge.
When I read the tanka poem I wrote above, I imagined something
but I didn't understand it well.
Mokichi is one of the most famous tanka poets who gave traction
to the tanka field before and after the second World War, and in this one it seems that not only he himself feels like a water snail but also he gives equivalent characteristics to the both, the bird living in Heaven according to Buddhism and such common creature as water snail which I used to find often in paddy fields especially in this season.
Viewing Shoubu(菖蒲)or sweet flags which look like some imaginary birds I walked around the garden.
At the back yard it looks a little wilder and different aspect can be observed.
In the shadow we can also see a sort of hydrangea, 草アジサイ.
I think the English name shows the character of this species of flower quite well because hydrangeas fancy some moist place being necessity of a lot of hydrogen as if they are longing for water.
アジサイ is written as 紫陽花 that signifies purple sunny flower.
I like the Japanese name but they are not always purple nor sunny.
Appreciating these different flowers I felt closer to them and somehow got familiar to the former tanka poem by Mokichi and then I left the garden.
