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This is a Sokyoku piece in the Kumiuta style from the Ikuta Ryű school . This piece was composed for koto by Kitajima Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
All six song texts of Wakaba ('Young Grasses') are derived from the 'Lavender' (Wakamurasaki) chapter in 'The Tale of Genji,' which describes the beginnings of Prince Genji's relationship with Murasaki. She was eventually to become his beloved wife, but when he first met her, she was still a young girl in the care of a guardian.

Each song contains a quotation from one of the six waka poems exchanged between Genji and the bishop and nun with whom Murasaki lives.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Since first he saw
Those fresh young grasses
The dew on his sleeves
Has never dried.
How lonely
Are the nights
Of the traveler.

As I lie alone
Lost in a reverie
My dreams give way
To a midnight wind
That wanders from the hills.
The roar
Of the waterfall
Brings forth my tears.

Then, farewell.
On my return to the capital
I shall tell my friends:
'Hurry to see
These rare blossoms
On the mountain cherry
Before the winds
Arrive to scatter them.'

When I opened
The pine door
Of my mountain hermitage,
So long shut,
And saw a blossom
Never seen before,
My sleeves were damp
With tears of gratitude.

Since I saw the color
Of a lovely bloom
Dimly last evening,
My distracted heart
Would stay behind
On this mountain
Like the lingering morning mist.
How sad is parting!

Our friendship
Is still as shallow
As the Spring of Shallow Mountain
From which one heedlessly drinks,
Only to regret it later;
Yet for all that
I hope it will
Be everlasting.

Wakaba appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Tozan Ryu - Shakuhachi Honkyoku  (Listen)
Tozan Ryu Honkyoku Instruction Recording - Vol 1 - Disk 1  (Listen)