風冴ゆるとしまが磯のむら千鳥
立ち居は波の心なりけり
立ち居は波の心なりけり
- Roma-ji
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Kaze sayuru toshima ga iso no murachidori tachii wa nami no kokoro narikeri
- English Translation
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Where the wind blows chill
on the rocky shore of Toshima,
the flocks of plovers—
their rising and settling
follow the heart of the waves
- Meaning
- On the rocky shore of Toshima, where the wind blows chill, the flocks of plovers rise and settle as the waves' own heart would have them.
- Commentary
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Book Six Winter Poems 651
Headnote: "For a screen made for the entry of an imperial consort into the palace in the sixth year of Bunji."
This is the eleventh poem of the plover sequence and the last of that sequence. The flocks of plovers on a rocky shore swept by chill wind rise and settle as the heart of the waves directs. According to the headnote, it was composed for a screen made for the entry of an imperial consort into the palace in the sixth year of Bunji.
The author, "Senior Third Rank Suetsune," is Fujiwara no Suetsune. A son of the Master of the Western Capital Office Fujiwara no Akisuke, he was active as a poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara house and rose to Senior Third Rank.
The scene is winter with a chill wind, and the place is a rocky shore.
The direct occasion is composing a poem for a screen prepared when Ninshi, daughter of Kujō Kanezane, entered the palace as consort to Emperor Go-Toba in the sixth year of Bunji.
The first line, "kaze sayuru," means "where the wind blows chill."
The second line, "toshima ga iso no," means "of the rocky shore of Toshima."
The third line, "murachidori," refers to plovers in flocks. Against the plover that "cries alone" in 647 in this book, flocking plovers are sung here.
The fourth line, "tachii wa," means "their rising and settling."
The last line, "nami no kokoro narikeri," means "follows the heart of the waves," with "keri" expressing the exclamation of awareness. The plovers fly up each time a wave comes in and settle each time it withdraws, and the poem likens their rising and settling to obedience to the waves' heart, personifying the waves. From the plovers of Narumi in the poems before, it moves to flocks of plovers on a rocky shore and closes the plover sequence.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Suetsune
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- When the wind blows, driven far from Narumi's flats, a love for them unreturned, crying at the heartless waves— ah, the plovers!
- The day ties its cords, evening falls for the shore folk on Narumi's flats, and from the sleeves of those going home the cries of plovers rise
- How vain it is! For how many nights, then, on the flowing water does it strive to write the count— the mandarin duck sleeping alone?
- Like the waterfowl, the wild ducks sleeping afloat, drifting in my sorrow, with the waves for my pillow how many nights have I slept?