春霞かすみていにし雁がねは
今ぞ鳴くなる秋霧の上に
今ぞ鳴くなる秋霧の上に
- Roma-ji
-
Harugasumi kasumite inishi kari ga ne wa
ima zo naku naru akigiri no ue ni - English Translation
-
Through springtime haze
the wild geese once passed away—
yet now they cry,
above the drifting autumn mist,
their voices heard once more.
- Meaning
- The wild geese that once flew away into the spring haze are now crying above the autumn mist.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
The poem contrasts spring and autumn, and haze with mist, describing the geese that fly north in spring and return in autumn.
Though included in the Kokinshū as a poem of unknown authorship, later works attribute it to Ki no Tsurayuki (or possibly Tomonori). An anecdote tells that when Tsurayuki began with “spring haze…,” others mocked him for choosing the wrong season, but when he completed the poem, all were moved by its elegant turn.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Ito haya mo nakinuru kari ka shiratsuyu no
irodoru kigi mo momiji aenaku ni - Next Poem
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Yo o samumi koromo kari ga ne naku nabe ni
hagi no shitaba mo utsuroinikeri