ちはやぶる神世もきかず竜田河
唐紅に水くくるとは
唐紅に水くくるとは
- Roma-ji
-
Chihayaburu kamiyo mo kikazu Tatsutagawa
karakurenai ni mizu kukuru to wa - English Translation
-
even in ages of gods
never once has it been heard—
the Tatsuta River
binding its flowing waters
in deep-dyed scarlet
- Meaning
- Even in the age of the gods, it has never been heard that the Tatsuta River could bind its waters in deep scarlet dye.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
A poem also included in the Hyakunin Isshu.
It expresses that even in the age of the gods—an age of fierce and wondrous happenings—such a thing as the Tatsuta River dyeing its waters deep crimson has never been heard of.
It is a heightened expression of the beauty of autumn leaves scattered upon the Tatsuta River (in present-day Ikaruga, Ikoma District, Nara), a place famed for its autumn colors.
“Chihayaburu” is a pillow word applied to “gods,” carrying a sense of wild or awe-inspiring power.
- Author
- Ariwara no Narihira
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- a man in loneliness who comes apart to stand beneath a certain tree— even the shade he trusted is gone, the leaves all fallen
- the autumn leaves flow on and come to rest at the river’s mouth— there, do waves arise deeply dyed in crimson
- even the path I came I no longer can discern— on Mount Kurabu, dark, as the leaves of many trees fall in a blinding scatter
- when I pass in autumn through Mimuro, sacred mount, where the gods abide— it feels as though I have cut and wear a robe of brocade