きりぎりす

鳴くや霜夜の

さむしろに

衣かたしき

ひとりかも寝む

くじょうよしつね

きりぎりす

なくやしもよの

さむしろに

ころもかたしき

ひとりかもねん

Fujiwara no Yoshitsune

With crickets crying

In the frosty night,

On this cold straw mat,

My robe as only shoulder rest,

Must I then sleep alone?

Fujiwara no Yoshitsune (1169 - 1206), also called GoKyogoku Sessho no Daijo Daijin (his highest positions being prime-minister and regent), or Kujo Yoshitsune, was a grandson of Jien (poem 95). He was one of the editors of the Shin Kokinshu (to which he wrote the preface), and belonged to the Mikohidari family poetry salon. His name is among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Akishino Gessei Shu is his personal poetry collection. He has more than 300 poems in imperial collections. The power struggle between emperor and shogun was in full swing at that time, and Yoshitsune was murdered at age thirty-seven.

Some commentators think this poem refers to poem 3 (‘must I sleep alone’) by Hitomaro, others assume it was inspired by an anonymous poem from the Kokinshu (‘on a cold straw mat):

さむしろに衣かたしきこよひもや我をまつらむうぢのはしひめ

   On the cold reed-mat

   Her robe as only shoulder rest,

   This evening too

   Is she waiting for me -

   The Goddess of Uji Bridge?

Well, let’s say it refers to both poems. But there are more poems offered as suggested references.

Hokusai

Mushiro is ‘a straw mat’, samushi means ‘cold’, and mushi is ‘an insect’.

Hokusai’s drawing seems to be unfinished. What we see is a woman longingly looking out.

Kirigirisu, Gampsocleis buergeni, Japanese katydid, also called bush-cricket or long-horned grasshopper

The image is of the female katydid, and the sound is typical for the male.