Princess Shokushi (also pronounced Shikishi) was a mediaeval Japanese princess and priestess whose poetry today remains famous throughout Japan for its directness of emotion. These two tanka – taken from a 13th century Imperial collection called ‘Shokugosen Wakashū’ – are beautiful examples of her bitter love poems, in which she suffers because she cannot be with the man with whom she is in love, nor even communicate her desire to him. In the final phrase of the piece, the fading smoke is the smoke of the cremation fires after she has pined away to nothingness.
The satsuma biwa, an instrument dating in its current incarnation from the 16th century but known in Japan from the 7th, has a history even longer than Shokushi’s poetry. Its expressive, percussive powers are a perfect match for the poems.