「大原の里」にて　at Ohara Village

我が岡の　龗に言ひて　降らしめし　雪の摧けし　そこに散りけむ

Wagaokano okaminiiite furashimeshi yukinokudakeshi sokonichirikemu

I simply asked the god on my hill to break off a piece of our snow and scatter it around over there

その雪は私が住んでいる岡の竜神・水神様に頼んで降らせた、雪のかけらがそこに散ったのでしょうね、と見事に天武天皇の優越感歌をひっくり返す歌を贈り返しているのです。宮中に勤める女性は聖水、水の管理を託されることが多いので、水の神、竜神とは近い関係にあるのです。このお二人のやりとりは実に見事と言えるでしょう。

In this poem, Lady Fujiwara does an excellent job of turning the tables on Emperor Tenmu’s superiority by stating that the snow he received was simply a fragment of some snow she asked the dragon god (water god) who lives on her hill to bestow upon him. Women who served in palaces would often be put in charge of holy water and other water duties, so they had close relationships with dragon gods and other water gods. Isn’t their conversation interesting?