海山の道に心をつくし果て
ないしの鉢のなみだ流れき
ないしの鉢のなみだ流れき
- Roma-ji
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Umi yama no michi ni kokoro o tsukushi hate
naishi no hachi no namida nagareki - English Translation
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Over sea and hills,
I spent my heart upon the road;
no sacred bowl found—
from the bowl that was not there,
blood-red tears flowed at last.
- Meaning
- I searched far and wide, over seas and mountains, exhausting my heart upon the road, yet the sacred bowl was nowhere to be found—and so blood-red tears came to flow.
- Commentary
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One of the five suitors who sought Princess Kaguya, Prince Ishitsukuri, was set the impossible task of bringing back “the Buddha’s stone begging bowl.”
What he brought was a soot-blackened stone bowl from before the image of the Venerable Pindola, with an artificial flowering branch added, and he presented it to Princess Kaguya. This poem was written in the letter placed inside that bowl.
“Naishi no hachi” plays on “naishi” with the sound of weeping and “ishi” (stone), and “the bowl’s tears” puns on “bowl” with “blood.”
In bringing back a soot-blackened bowl, one can glimpse Prince Ishitsukuri’s self-serving intent.
- Source
- Taketori Monogatari
- Next Poem
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Oku tsuyu no hikari o dani zo yadosamashi
Ogura no yama nite nani motomeken