Kage sae ni ima wa to kiku no utsurou wa nami no soko ni mo shimo ya okuran

English Translation

Even their reflections,
as if to say "It is time,"
the chrysanthemums fade—
has the frost come to settle
even beneath the waves?

Meaning

Even the reflections of the chrysanthemums fade, as if to say their time has come—has the frost settled even beneath the waves?

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 623

Headnote: "On the day of the imperial excursion to the Ōi River in the same reign."
This is the thirteenth poem of the frost-and-withering sequence. The speaker wonders whether the reflections of the chrysanthemums on the river fade because frost settles even beneath the waves. According to the headnote, it was composed on the day of an imperial excursion to the Ōi River in the same reign of Emperor Daigo as the preceding poem.
The author, "Sakanoue no Korenori," is Sakanoue no Korenori. A poet said to descend from Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, he is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The scene is the season of frost, and the place is the Ōi River in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is Emperor Daigo's excursion to the Ōi River.

The first line, "kage sae ni," means "even their reflections on the water," with "sae" as an adverbial particle of addition: not only the chrysanthemums on the bank but even their reflections in the river.
The second line, "ima wa to kiku no," means "the chrysanthemums, as if saying 'it is time.'"
The third line, "utsurou wa," means "that they fade," referring to the chrysanthemums changing color under frost.
The fourth line, "nami no soko ni mo," means "even at the bottom of the waves where their reflections lie."
The last line, "shimo ya okuran," closes with the attributive form of the conjectural auxiliary "ran," answering the interrogative particle "ya," and wonders, "does frost settle there?" Resting on the notion that chrysanthemums change color because frost settles on them, the poem turns a reasoned argument: if even their reflections change, frost must settle even beneath the waves. Following the preceding poem's chrysanthemums finer for the frost left upon them, it closes the three poems on frost and chrysanthemums from the Engi era. The Ōi River, sung in 555 of this book as a river where autumn leaves linger, is sung here as a river mirroring chrysanthemums.

Author

Sakanoue no Koreyuki

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other