At Matsunoo peak,
in the quiet dawn of light,
I lift my gaze—
listening as I look up,
the Butsuhōsō cries.
- Meaning
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In the quiet dawn breaking over Mount Matsuo behind Matsunoo Shrine, I lift my gaze to the peak and, listening in reverence, hear the cry of the butsu-hō-sō—the Three Jewels.
- Commentary
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Volume Three, Butsuhōsō.
Yumenen, a tonsured man who took pleasure in traveling, set out for Mount Kōya with his youngest child, Sakunoji. They sought lodging at a temple on Mount Kōya, but there was a custom that those unconnected to the temple were not given shelter. So they went instead to the mausoleum of Kōbō Daishi and spent the night chanting sutras. As dawn broke, Yumenen composed this poem.
Although the poem is often taken up for its ideological sense—that hymns to the Three Jewels can be heard even at Matsunoo—it strives, as much as possible, to press forward the depiction and emotion of nature itself, rather than an overtly ideological expression.
- Author
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Ueda Akinari
- Source
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Ugetsu Monogatari
- Other
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Even so, my heart,
thinking he would return,
was taken in by it—
how have I lived in this world
till today, this life of mine?
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So greatly, even so,
the ancient Mama no Tegona
was loved like this—
so must she have been loved,
Mama no Tegona of Mama.
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Even birds’ cries, too—
the thickets of the secret
mountain of vows.
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Even if forgot,
will a traveler draw and drink
from Tamagawa—
in the depths of Mount Kōya,
these waters of Tamagawa?