Tabine suru yumeji wa yuruse utsu no yama seki to wa kikazu moru hito mo nashi

English Translation

As I sleep on the road,
let my dreams go through, at least,
Mount Utsu, I pray;
I have never heard of a barrier here,
and there is no guard to keep it.

Meaning

Let the path of my dreams pass through, at least, as I sleep on the road, Mount Utsu; I never heard you were a barrier, and there is no guard to stop me.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 981

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When the men presented travel poems at the Poetry Bureau."
This is the second of a sequence of poems on dreams and sleeves on the road. Since Mount Utsu is not known as a barrier and has no guard, the speaker asks it at least to let his dreams pass as he sleeps on the road. According to the headnote, it was composed when the men presented travel poems at the Poetry Bureau.
The author, Fujiwara no Ietaka, was a poet of the early Kamakura period and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
The scene is a night sleeping on the road, at Mount Utsu in Suruga Province.
The direct occasion is an occasion at the Poetry Bureau when the men presented travel poems. The Poetry Bureau was the office established by Retired Emperor Go-Toba for the compilation of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
It draws on Ariwara no Narihira's 904, "Here by Mount Utsu in Suruga, I meet you neither in waking hours nor even in my dreams," taking up the lament of not meeting the beloved even in dreams at Mount Utsu.

The first line, "tabine suru," means "as I sleep on the road." It begins with the same words as "tabine suru" in 926 and 927.
The second line, "yumeji wa yuruse," means "let the path of my dreams pass." Closing in the imperative, the poem breaks after this second line. Taking up "yume mo miji" in the preceding poem, it asks that at least the path of dreams be allowed.
The third line, "utsu no yama," is a pass on the Tōkaidō in Suruga, a famous place pictured in The Tales of Ise as a narrow path overgrown with ivy and maples. It stands as the one addressed.
The fourth line, "seki to wa kikazu," means "I never heard it was a barrier." It gives the reasoning that nothing should block the path of dreams.
The last line, "moru hito mo nashi," means "there is no guard." Where Narihira's 904 laments not meeting the beloved even in dreams at Mount Utsu, this poem turns reasoning on the mountain, which has neither barrier nor guard, to demand that dreams be let through, answering Narihira's lament. From here three poems on Mount Utsu follow.

Author

Fujiwara no Ietaka

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other