Kaze susami ise no hamaogi wakeyukeba koromo karikane nami ni naku nari

English Translation

In the raging wind,
as I push through the beach reeds
along Ise's shore,
no robe to borrow, the geese
are crying upon the waves.

Meaning

In the raging wind, as I push through the beach reeds of Ise, the wild geese cry over the waves, as if weeping like me, who can find no robe to borrow.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 945

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the third of a sequence of poems on the beach reeds of Ise. As the traveler pushes through the beach reeds of Ise in a raging wind, the wild geese cry over the waves as though weeping for want of a robe, a cold journey along the shore. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Former Middle Counselor Masafusa," is Ōe no Masafusa. A scholar and noble of the late Heian period, he rose to Provisional Middle Counselor and wrote the Gōke Shidai, a work on court ceremonial.
The scene is an autumn shore in a raging wind, along the shore of Ise thick with beach reeds.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "kaze susami," means "in the raging wind." It shows a journey along the shore through wild winds.
The second line, "ise no hamaogi," is the beach reeds of Ise. The words placed in the last lines of the two preceding poems are here placed in the second line.
The third line, "wakeyukeba," means "as I push through." Taking up "wakesugite" in the preceding poem, it becomes a journey pressing through the beach reeds.
In the fourth line, "koromo karikane," "karikane" carries both "kari-kane," unable to borrow a robe, and "karigane," the cry of wild geese. The traveler who cannot borrow a robe against the cold and the geese crying overhead are laid together in one word.
In the last line, "nami ni naku nari," "naku" carries both the geese "crying" and the traveler "weeping" for want of a robe. "Nari" infers from sound, catching the geese's voices over the waves. Where the two preceding poems sing of sleeping on a bed of beach reeds, this poem sings of the road through the reeds, and the three poems on the beach reeds of Ise move from the bed to the road.

Author

Oe no Masafusa

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other