Kimioinoru kokorofukakuba tanomuran taetewasarani yamagawanomizu

English Translation

If the heart that prays
for my lord runs deep enough,
then you may trust it—
broken off, it flows once more,
the water of the mountain stream

Meaning

If the heart that prays for my lord runs deep, then surely you may trust in it: broken off, the mountain stream flows again.

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 noting that only four of Jien's poems entered the contest of Kempo 2, and suggesting that something must still have left him unsatisfied, the narrative quotes the long poem he offered the retired emperor.
The Middle Captain Teika happened to be in attendance, and the retired emperor handed him the long poem with instructions to answer it; Teika wrote very quickly and presented his reply. This is the envoy attached to it.
With this exchange the account of the contest and its poets closes, and the narrative moves to the poems of the new retired emperor Tsuchimikado.

My lord in the first line is the retired emperor, and the poem takes as given that Jien's office is to pray for him. The conditional in the second line sets up the premise that this heart runs deep, taking back the word for depth from Jien's poem, so that the correspondence is plain. The auxiliary of present conjecture in the third line encourages: then surely you may trust in it. The fourth line, broken off yet once again, answers Jien's never breaking yet broken, turning the word for breaking from negation into renewal. The last line simply repeats Jien's own closing phrase, and by returning the same scene in the same words it recasts a poem of lament as a poem of encouragement. The skill of taking over every word of the original while reversing only its sense shows what Teika could do, writing on the spot and handing it up at once.

Author

Fujiwara no Teika

Source

Masukagami

Other