Miru mama ni yamakaze araku shigurumeri miyako mo ima ya yosamu naruramu

English Translation

Even as I watch,
the mountain wind blows wildly,
bringing on the showers;
in the capital by now
must the night be turning cold?

Meaning

Even as I watch, the mountain wind blows wildly and cold showers seem to fall; in the capital, too, the nights must be turning cold by now.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 989

Headnote: "On the heart of travel, when he went on pilgrimage to Kumano."
This is the fifth of the sequence that closes the book with thoughts of home and the capital, and the closing poem of Travel Poems. As the mountain wind blows wildly and cold showers fall before his eyes, the speaker wonders whether the nights have turned cold in the capital too, thinking of the capital on the road to Kumano. According to the headnote, it was composed on the heart of travel when he went on pilgrimage to Kumano.
The author, "the Retired Emperor," is Retired Emperor Go-Toba. The eighty-second sovereign, he ruled as retired emperor after abdicating and ordered the compilation of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
The scene is a night of cold showers on the pilgrimage to Kumano, in the mountains on the way to Kumano in Kii Province.
The direct occasion is composing on the heart of travel during the pilgrimage to Kumano.
Kumano is the land of the Three Shrines of Kumano in Kii Province, where Retired Emperor Go-Toba went on pilgrimage many times.

The first line, "miru mama ni," means "even as I watch." It shows the weather changing moment by moment before his eyes.
The second line, "yamakaze araku," means "the mountain wind blows wildly." Following "toko no yamakaze" in 967, the mountain wind of a journey is sung of again.
The third line, "shigurumeri," means "cold showers seem to fall." "Meri" infers from sight, and the poem breaks after this third line. Where 984 denies the showers with "shigurezari keri," here real showers fall.
The fourth line, "miyako mo ima ya," means "in the capital too, by now." The particle "ya" poses a question, answered by "ran" in the attributive form in the last line. Like "miyako ni mo ima ya" in 982, it imagines the capital now from the road.
The last line, "yosamu naruramu," means "must the nights be turning cold?" "Ramu" conjectures about a present event out of sight. Where at the head of the book in 896 Empress Genmei thinks of "kimi ga atari" on the road as the capital moves, at the close Retired Emperor Go-Toba thinks of the capital from the road, so that Travel Poems opens with a sovereign's poem and closes with a retired emperor's, the journey away from the capital and the journey thinking of the capital answering each other at the beginning and end of the book.

Author

Go-Toba In

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other