Ikadashi yo mate kototowan minakami wa ikabakari fuku yama no arashi zo

English Translation

Raftsman, wait a while,
let me ask you: at the source
of the stream above,
how fiercely must it be blowing,
the storm wind upon the hills?

Meaning

Raftsman, wait—let me ask you something. Up at the head of this river, how fiercely must the storm wind be blowing through the mountains?

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 554

Headnote: "When the courtiers went to the Ōi River in the reign of Retired Emperor Go-Reizei and composed on the theme 'Autumn Leaves Floating on the Water.'"
This is the second poem of the falling-leaves sequence. Calling out to a raftsman, the speaker asks how fiercely the mountain storm must be blowing upstream, for so many crimson leaves to come floating down. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Autumn Leaves Floating on the Water" when courtiers went out to the Ōi River in the reign of Emperor Go-Reizei.
The author, "Fujiwara no Sukemune Ason," is Fujiwara no Sukemune. He was a courtier in the reign of Emperor Go-Reizei, and "Ason" is an honorific attached to the names of men of the Fourth and Fifth Ranks.
The scene is early winter when autumn leaves float on the river, and the place is the Ōi River in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is the topic "Autumn Leaves Floating on the Water," set when the courtiers went out to the Ōi River.

The first line, "ikadashi yo," is a call to a raftsman who steers log rafts down the river. Timber from Tanba upstream was floated down the Ōi River on rafts, and the poem opens by hailing one of these raftsmen.
The second line, "mate kototowan," means "wait, let me ask you." The imperative "mate" stops the listener, and "n" is an auxiliary of intention. Layering a call and a command, the upper verse has a tone close to everyday speech.
The third line, "minakami wa," refers to the upper reaches or source of the river. From the leaves floating down on the surface, the speaker's gaze turns toward the place they came from.
The fourth line, "ikabakari fuku," means "how fiercely must it blow?" From the abundance of leaves on the water before him, the speaker infers the force of the unseen wind upstream.
The last line, "yama no arashi zo," closes with a strongly questioning "zo." Where the preceding poem inferred the gathering of leaves from the sound of the waves, this poem infers the storm upstream from the leaves drifting down, and both share the pattern of imagining an unseen cause from the river before one's eyes.

Author

Fujiwara no Sukemune

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other