Classic Poem

This poem was written around 869 when Michizane, aged twenty-five by Japanese count, was still a university student. Roka (literally, " hallway " ) was a nickname given to the section of the Sugawara mansion where the family maintained a private school that prepared young men for admission to the university. A group of them have joined Michizane in his study. This poem is about poetry, wine, friendship, and the passage of time, all of which are common elements in Chinese literature and give this poem a Chinese feeling, amplified by the allusion in line 4. Although this poem can be taken as an example of Japanese youths playing at being Chinese, readers should keep in mind that Otomo no Tabito (665ÔÇô731) had begun writing waka in praise of wine well over a century before this and that the passage of time had become a staple topic of Japanese literature.
A lovely day, who would want to waste it?
Valued friends unexpectedly come to visit.
In their presence the chamber blossoms anew,
as if they brought the bamboo grove of old.
Several cups and we are intoxicated;
a few poems make us intimate friends.
Times like this, easily lost, impossible to regain:
with regret we see evening shadows about to fall.