麓をば宇治の川霧立ちこめて
雲居に見ゆる朝日山かな
雲居に見ゆる朝日山かな
- Roma-ji
-
Fumoto oba uji no kawagiri tachikomete kumoi ni miyuru asahiyama kana
- English Translation
-
The foot of the hills
lies hidden by Uji's mist
rising from the stream,
and high among the clouds shows
the peak of Mount Asahi
- Meaning
- The river mist of Uji has closed over the foot of the hills, and Mount Asahi appears high among the clouds.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems II 494
Headnote: "On mist, composed for the hundred-poem sequence presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa."
This is the fourth poem of the mist sequence. The river mist of Uji hides the foot of the hills, and Mount Asahi appears to float above the clouds. According to the headnote, it is the mist poem from a hundred-poem sequence presented in Emperor Horikawa's reign.
The author was a son of Fujiwara no Sanesue who rose to Provisional Major Counselor.
The scene is an autumn morning at Uji, where the Uji River flows, and Mount Asahi, a poetic place in Yamashiro Province on the river's east bank.
The direct occasion was the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences, presented by poets in the reign of Emperor Horikawa.
In the first line, "oba" combines the object marker "o" with "wa," setting off "the foot of the hills" emphatically.
The second line, "uji no kawagiri," is mist rising from the Uji River; like 493, it sings of river mist.
The third line, "tachikomete," shows the mist spreading everywhere and hiding the foot of the hills.
In the fourth line, "kumoi" is the far realm of the clouds: with its base hidden, only the upper mountain appears to float above them.
In the last line, "kana" is exclamatory. With the base hidden in mist and only the summit rising, the name Asahi, "morning sun," suggests morning light while the mist creates a vivid contrast of low and high. Whereas 493 looked at a boat on the river within the mist, this poem looks at a mountain above it, depicting the same river mist from below and above.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Kinzane
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Akebono ya kawase no nami no takasebune kudasu ka hito no sode no akigiri
- Next Poem
-
Yamazato ni kiri no magaki no hedatezu wa ochikatabito no sode mo mitemashi