磯馴れて心も解けぬ菰枕
荒くな掛けそ水の白波
荒くな掛けそ水の白波
- Roma-ji
-
Iso narete kokoro mo tokenu komomakura araku na kake so mizu no shiranami
- English Translation
-
Used though to the shore,
my heart still will not ease
on this rush pillow;
do not break so wildly here,
you white waves of the water.
- Meaning
- Though I have grown used to the shore, my heart finds no ease on this pillow of rushes; white waves of the water, do not break over it so roughly.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Travel Poems 946
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the first of a sequence of poems on the traveler's pillow. Though used to the shore, the speaker's heart finds no ease on a pillow of rushes, and he bids the white waves not to break over it so roughly, the restlessness of sleeping by the water. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Sadayori," is Fujiwara no Sadayori. A son of Fujiwara no Kintō, he rose to Provisional Middle Counselor, a noble of the mid-Heian period. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the middle ages.
The scene is a night of sleeping by the water, at a lodging by the water where white waves break.
The direct occasion is not recorded.
The first line, "iso narete," means "though I have grown used to the shore." It pairs with "iso narenu," the first line of 926: where that poem sings of a heart unused to the shore, this one sings of a heart that does not ease even after growing used to it.
The second line, "kokoro mo tokenu," means "my heart does not ease." It shows a mind unable to sleep in peace on the road.
The third line, "komomakura," means "a pillow of bound rushes." The poem breaks after this third line, presenting a humble traveler's pillow.
The fourth line, "araku na kake so," means "do not break so roughly." "Na ... so" expresses a prohibition. Where "kakaru shiranami" in 926 are waves breaking over a hut, here the waves are bidden not to break.
The last line, "mizu no shiranami," means "white waves of the water," naming the one addressed with a noun ending. Like "nami ni arasu na" in 933, it turns words of prohibition toward the waves. From here poems on the traveler's pillow follow.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Sadayori
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Through waves I never knew, the many shoals of the river, I have made my way, and what I spread to sleep alone are the beach reeds of Ise.
- 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.
- How much further on, how many more nights, who can say? At Iwashiro, among the roots of hillside grass, I will bind my pillow now.
- Beneath the pine roots on the rocky shore of Ojima, my pillow for the night, do not be so drenched with tears— are you a fisher's sleeve?