From Mount Asama
in Shinano, rising smoke—
do people far and near
not see it and take alarm?
- Meaning
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From Mount Asama in Shinano, smoke rises; do people far and near not see it and take alarm?
- Commentary
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Episode Eight: "On Mount Asama"
A man, finding it difficult to live in the capital, set out with a friend to seek a place to dwell in the Eastern Provinces.
On the journey, in Shinano Province, he saw smoke rising into the sky from Mount Asama and composed this poem.
Seeing smoke rise from the mountain, one would think it had erupted, yet the people do not seem to notice or raise any alarm; the poem expresses his astonishment at this.
The episode in which this poem appears is one tale within the series of so-called "Journey to the East" stories.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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When she asked, “Is it a white jewel?”—
had I but answered, “It is dew,” and vanished away.
-
All the more, as I go farther on,
how I long for the place I have left—
how enviable are the waves
that return again.
-
Clad in Chinese robes,
long worn and grown familiar—
because I have a wife
so dear and close to me,
how keenly I feel this distant journey.
-
On Mount Utsu
in Suruga—there, even in waking,
nor yet in dreams,
do I meet with her.