Saritomoto omoukokorozo naofukaki taedetaeyuku yamagawanomizu

English Translation

Even so, I think,
and that thought runs the deeper—
never breaking off
yet broken and thin it flows,
the water of the mountain stream

Meaning

Even so, I still hope, and that hope runs deeper than ever: like the water of a mountain stream that thins yet never ceases to flow.

Commentary

Book One: Odoro no Shita

Go-Toba, the eighty-second sovereign, was the fourth son of Takakura. After the Taira fled west with the child emperor Antoku, the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa summoned his grandsons to look at them; the third prince wept and would not go near him, but the fourth prince climbed at once onto his knee and seemed fond of him, so the Cloistered Emperor exclaimed that here was a true grandson, and in the eighth month of Juei 2 set him on the throne at the age of four. The sacred sword had gone down into the sea with the former emperor, so that for the first time an accession took place without the three regalia. After the Cloistered Emperor's death Go-Toba ruled in his own right; the realm was at peace and the way of poetry flourished. In Kenkyu 9, at nineteen, he abdicated to Tsuchimikado and began his cloistered rule, building a villa at Minase where he spent himself on the pleasures of the seasons. He held the poetry contest in fifteen hundred rounds, established the Bureau of Poetry, had the Shinkokinshu compiled, and held its celebratory banquet in Genkyu 2. In Jogen 4 he set Tsuchimikado aside and raised Juntoku to the throne, and Juntoku too gave himself to poetry. At Minase the retired emperor played go and small archery, explained the old precedent of the stakes, and had a guardsman prepare the dish described by Murasaki Shikibu—in everything he showed the range of his gifts. At the selected poetry contest of Kempo 2, Fujiwara no Hideyoshi of the Northern Guard was called on for nine poems; the Yoshimizu bishop Jien offered the retired emperor a long poem, and Teika wrote a long poem in reply on the spot. The new retired emperor Tsuchimikado composed a hundred poems privately, showed them to Ietaka and Teika, and exchanged poems with Teika.
Go-Toba's personal name was Takahira; he was the fourth son of Takakura, and his mother was Shichijoin, daughter of Nobutaka, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. Tsuchimikado's personal name was Tamehito, and his mother was Shomeimon'in, daughter of the priest Noen and adopted daughter of the Inner Minister Michichika. Juntoku's personal name was Morinari, and his mother was Shumeimon'in. The regent Kujo Yoshitsune was called a saint of poetry, and the compilers of the Shinkokinshu were Michitomo, Ariie, Teika, Ietaka and Masatsune. The Middle Counselor Kanemitsu, Fujiwara no Kanemitsu, and the Middle Counselor Sukezane, Fujiwara no Sukezane, were each called on for screen poems at an accession thanksgiving. Kunaikyo was descended from Emperor Murakami through the Minister of the Left Toshifusa, and was the daughter of a man who died holding only the fourth rank. Fujiwara no Hideyoshi served in the retired emperor's Northern Guard, and the Yoshimizu bishop Jien was a poet-monk who long held the office of Tendai abbot.
After the account of the poetry contest of Kempo 2, the narrative turns to the Yoshimizu bishop Jien. He too was a saint of poetry beyond compare, yet only four of his poems were included. He was greatly honoured in the world, held the office of Tendai abbot for many years, and in that time gained distinctions past counting; the reverence shown him was without equal. Even so, the narrator suggests, there must have been something in which he remained unsatisfied.
It was to set out that inward feeling that he offered the retired emperor a long poem, and this is the envoy attached to it.
The Middle Captain Teika happened to be in attendance, and the long poem was handed to him with instructions to answer it; he wrote very quickly and presented it. The envoy to that reply is "Kimioinoru kokorofukakuba tanomuran taetewasarani yamagawanomizu".

The first line breaks off in mid-thought—even so, surely—taking up the lament of the long poem while showing that hope has not been given up. The emphatic particle in the second line is answered by the adjective in the third, whose depth is at once the depth of feeling and a word belonging to the water below. The fourth line piles a contradiction upon itself: never breaking, yet broken and thin, a current that dwindles without ever running dry, which is the persistence of his own wish. The poem closes on a noun. The hope stated at the end of the long poem, that the mist on the peak might lift and he return to a cloudless sky, is here compressed into a single image of water, and the contrast between the many words of the long poem and the one scene of the envoy is striking. Teika's reply takes over depth, breaking off and the mountain stream exactly as they stand, so that the exchange is very closely joined.

Author

Jien

Source

Masukagami

Other