Tachikaeri mata mo kite min matsushima ya ojima no tomaya nami ni arasu na

English Translation

Turning back again,
I will come once more to see;
at Matsushima,
the rush huts of Ojima—
let the waves not ruin them.

Meaning

I will turn back and come to see this place once more. Rush-roofed huts of Ojima at Matsushima, do not let the waves lay you waste before then.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 933

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A travel poem from the fifty-poem sequences composed at the residence of Prince Shukaku."
This is the fourth of a sequence of poems on the moon seen on a journey, though no moon appears in this poem. The speaker vows to return to see Matsushima again and bids the rush huts of Ojima not to let the waves lay them waste, leaving his heart behind in a scene on the road. According to the headnote, it is a travel poem from the fifty-poem sequences composed at the residence of Prince Shukaku.
No author is named, and the poem continues from the preceding one as a work of Fujiwara no Shunzei. Shunzei was a poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods who compiled the Senzai Wakashū and was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
The scene is a journey, at Ojima in Matsushima in Mutsu Province.
The direct occasion is the travel topic in the fifty-poem sequences composed at the residence of Prince Shukaku. Prince Shukaku was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the abbot of Ninnaji.

The first line, "tachikaeri," means "turning back." From the moment of leaving, the speaker thinks of coming again.
The second line, "mata mo kite min," means "I will come again to see." "N" expresses intention, and the poem breaks after this second line.
The third line, "matsushima ya," calls up Matsushima, a famous place in Mutsu. The particle "ya" presents the place name with emotion. Following the bay of Tofu in 930, another famous place of Mutsu is sung of.
The fourth line, "ojima no tomaya," means "the rush-roofed huts of Ojima." Ojima is one of the islands of Matsushima, sung of together with the rush huts of fisherfolk.
The last line, "nami ni arasu na," means "do not let the waves ruin you." Closing with the prohibitive "na," it addresses the huts. Where 926 tells of a heart unable to bear the waves breaking over a reed hut, this poem bids the rush huts not to be ruined by the waves, turning the hut exposed to the waves from a source of the traveler's unease into a scene he hopes will remain until he comes again.

Author

Fujiwara no Shunzei

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other