天つ風

雲の通ひ路

吹き閉ぢよ

乙女の姿

しばしとどめむ

そうじょうへんじょう

あまつかぜ

くものかよいじ

ふきとじよ

をとめのすがた

しばしとどめん

The Monk Henjo

May the winds of heaven

Blow close the gateways

In the clouds

That for a while I can retain

These maidenly shapes.

Hokusai

Sojo Henjo, (816 - 890) was a waka poet and Buddhist priest. His real name was Yoshimine no Munesada. Henjo began his career as courtier and became the Head of Kurodo. After Emperor Ninmyo died, Henjo became a monk out of sorrow and later became sojo, bishop. He was the father of Sosei Hoshi (poem 21). He is listed as one of the Six Waka Laureates and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Rumour has it that he had had a love affair with the great female poet Ono no Komachi.

作者略伝と語釈

The print above shows two ladies, a nobleman's daughters, performing the Gosechi no Mai dance at the Niiname Matsuri, a rice harvest festival, at which Henjo was present before he became a priest. The Gosechi no mai is a five-movement dance by young maidens. The legendary account describing its origin says that when Emperor Temmu was playing the koto in his palace at Yoshino, an angel descended from heaven and danced, raising her sleeves five times.

Hokusai shows the musicians in the traditional bugaku dress.