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This is a Sokyoku piece in the Kumiuta style from the Ikuta Ryû school . Usugoromo is also known as: Tegai No Kyoku, Kashiwagi No Kyoku. This piece was composed for koto by Yatsuhashi Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Usugoromo is one of the 'Thirteen Yatsuhashi Song Cycles,' and is classified into ura category (1). The texts of the six songs are not related to one another. The last two songs, however, refer to episodes concerning the tragic affair between Kashiwagi and the Third Princess in the 'New Herbs: Part One' (Wakana, Jo) chapter of 'The Tale of Genji.'

(1) Kumiuta are traditionally classified into four categories according to the degree of profundity and stylistic proficiency required and sometimes the technical difficulties involved. These are omote (lit. "outside"), ura (lit. "inside"), naka (lit. "interior"), oku (lit, "deep interior"). By way of illustration, it may be helpful to imagine these categories as representing the structure of the imperial palace or a Shinto shrine with outer and inner walls, and further inside, the outer and inner sanctuaries. It should also be mentioned that these categories represent stages of a student’s progress in the learning of the koto repertoire, and are regulated by the issuing of diplomas along the way.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Oh that my love pains
Were as insignificant in me
As I am
In your affections.
Sad tears flow
Over the sleeves
Of my robe,
My thin, worn-out robe.

Yearning for my lover,
I drifted into a shallow sleep.
His image appeared
In dream,
But just as I spoke to him,
The dream broke,
And with it,
His image.

Even when the years
Accumulate on my head
As white as deepening snow,
My heart will never change.
Every morning
For as long as we live
I will admire
Your sleep-tousled hair.

There were many
Who would delight in playing
The strings of your heart (2).
But if the song of your soul
Still is in the same key,
Let it sound for me as exquisitely
As the autumn wind
Passing over a koto.

In the courtyard
Of the Rokujo Palace,
Guardsmen are playing kickball.
Kashiwagi kicks the ball, ton!
And lodges it in a branch
Of a plum tree.
Blossoms flutter down
Soundlessly down.

And in the end
How unfortunate!
He tried to gain the affection
Of the Third Princess,
But she would pay him no heed.
For she was like a cat
Kept closely leashed
By Genji.

(2) The original words of this poem are directed to a koto, while the underlying message is directed at a woman. The translation has forgone some of the wordplay in favor of the message.