行く先は小夜更けぬれど千鳥鳴く
佐保の河原は過ぎ憂かりけり
佐保の河原は過ぎ憂かりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Yukusaki wa sayo fukenuredo chidori naku saho no kawara wa sugiukarikeri
- English Translation
-
The way ahead of me,
though the night has grown late,
the Saho river shallows
where the plovers are crying
are hard to pass by
- Meaning
- The night has grown late on the road ahead, and yet the Saho river shallows, where the plovers are crying, are hard to leave behind.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Winter Poems 642
Headnote: "Composed on plovers crying at the Saho river shallows."
This is the second poem of the plover sequence. Though the night has grown late, the speaker finds the Saho river shallows, where plovers are crying, too moving to pass by. According to the headnote, it was composed on hearing plovers cry at the Saho river shallows.
The author, "Ise no Taifu," is Ise no Taifu. A daughter of the Chief Priest of Ise, Ōnakatomi no Sukechika, she served Empress Shōshi and is known for her poem on the double-flowered cherry blossoms presented from Nara.
The scene is late at night, and the place is the shallows of the Saho River in Yamato Province.
The direct occasion is hearing plovers cry at the Saho river shallows.
The first line, "yukusaki wa," means "the way ahead."
The second line, "sayo fukenuredo," means "though the night has grown late," with "nure" as the perfective form of the perfective auxiliary "nu" and "do" as a concessive conjunctive particle. It shows that this is a time to hurry on.
The third line, "chidori naku," modifies "Saho no kawara" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "saho no kawara wa," names a poetic place in Yamato Province, the shallows of the Saho River flowing north of the Nara capital. It was sung as a place famed for plovers.
The last line, "sugiukarikeri," means "they are hard to pass by," with "ushi" adding the sense of reluctance and "keri" expressing the exclamation of awareness. The poem sings of a heart held back by the plovers' cries, unable to leave though the traveler should hurry along the late-night road. Following the preceding poem, which heard plovers crying on the river shallows, this poem sings of a traveler whose steps are halted by that sound.
- Author
- Ise no Taifu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Gazing all alone, the moon shining clear upon the ice of the pond— before I know, upon my sleeve it has come to shine as well
- As the jet-black night deepens and wears on, where the hisagi grow along the clear river shallows the plovers are crying
- When evening comes, the sea wind blowing over, in far Michinoku at the Jewel River of Noda the plovers are crying
- Over the white waves wing brushing wing they fly, the plovers of the beach; the cry that sounds most sorrowful is the single cry at night