芦の葉を刈り葺く賤の山里に
衣片敷き旅寝をぞする
衣片敷き旅寝をぞする
- Roma-ji
-
Ashi no ha o karifuku shizu no yamazato ni koromo katashiki tabine o zo suru
- English Translation
-
Thatched with cut reed leaves,
in a humble peasant's home
in the mountain village,
spreading one sleeve of my robe,
I sleep here on my journey.
- Meaning
- In a mountain village, in a humble hut thatched with cut reeds, I spread out a single sleeve of my robe and sleep alone on my journey.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Travel Poems 922
Headnote: "When the courtiers composed travel poems in the reign of Emperor Go-Reizei."
This is the third of a sequence of poems on the loneliness of sleeping on a journey. In a humble mountain hut thatched with cut reeds, the speaker spreads one sleeve of his robe and sleeps on the road, sleeping alone in a poor lodging. According to the headnote, it was composed when the courtiers composed travel poems in the reign of Emperor Go-Reizei.
The author, "Middle Captain of the Left Takatsuna," is Minamoto no Takatsuna. A son of Minamoto no Takakuni, the Uji Major Counselor, he was a noble of the mid-Heian period. "Sakon chūjō" is short for Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards.
The scene is a night on a journey, in a mountain village with a reed-thatched hut of humble folk.
The direct occasion is a gathering in the reign of Emperor Go-Reizei at which the courtiers composed travel poems.
The "Go-Reizei-in" of the headnote, written with a variant character, refers to Emperor Go-Reizei, and "ue no onoko domo" means men serving in the palace, that is, the courtiers.
The first line, "ashi no ha o," means "reed leaves," naming the material of the thatch.
The second line, "karifuku shizu no," means "of the humble folk who cut them for thatch." It shows a poor lodging.
The third line, "yamazato ni," means "in a house in the mountain village." A reed-thatched hut in a mountain village conveys the dreariness of a lodging far from the capital.
The fourth line, "koromo katashiki," means "spreading only one sleeve of my robe." It is an expression for sleeping alone without a partner.
The last line, "tabine o zo suru," means "I sleep on my journey." The particle "zo" is answered by the attributive "suru." Where the preceding poem cares for a beloved's robe on the road, here the traveler himself spreads his own robe to sleep alone, and the word "koromo" links the two. Unlike the traveler of 910 who has no inn, this one has found lodging, however poor, in a humble house, yet the loneliness of sleeping alone remains.
- Author
- Minamoto no Takatsuna
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Sleeping on my way, at the dawn I hear the cries of the stag, and then bending down the rice leaves low, the autumn wind comes blowing.
- My dearest one's robe, worn while sleeping on the road, is so very thin— blow around her, I beg you, mountain wind of midnight.
- In days that are gone, a journey was not at all a journey to me; now alone and wet with dew is this pillow made of grass.
- On the mountain road I find I am drenched right through; where the white dew lies, rising at dawn, I have walked through the drops falling from the trees.