須磨の浦に海人のこり積む藻塩木の
からくもしたに燃えわたるかな
からくもしたに燃えわたるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Suma no ura ni ama no koritsumu moshiogi no karaku mo shita ni moewataru kana
- English Translation
-
At the bay of Suma,
firewood that the fisherfolk
cut and pile for salt:
bitterly, beneath it all,
how it goes on burning, ah
- Meaning
- Like the salt-kiln firewood the fisherfolk of Suma cut and pile, I go on burning bitterly, deep beneath the surface.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1065
Headnote: "Sent to someone."
This is the third poem of the sequence on unceasing longing sung through scenes of the water's edge and the sea. Like the firewood burned by the fisherfolk of Suma to make salt, the speaker burns on bitterly within. According to the headnote, it was sent to someone.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kiyotada," was a son of Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Kanesuke. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, he served as Governor of Kii, among other posts.
In the first line, Suma is a poetic place in Settsu sung for the fisherfolk who burned seaweed for salt. The line has an extra syllable at six.
In the second line, "koru" means to cut wood: the fisherfolk cut and pile it.
In the third line, "moshiogi" is firewood for boiling seaweed brine. The first three lines form a preface.
In the fourth line, "karaku" pivots between the saltiness of the brine and "karaku," bitterly, and "shita" pivots between the bottom of the firewood and the depths of the heart.
The last line, "moewataru kana," means "it goes on burning," closing with the exclamatory "kana." 1041, Michinobu's poem, also sang of the fisherfolk of Suma. From the waves of the rugged shore in the preceding poem it moves to the salt fires of Suma Bay and, like "shita ni koso take" in Koben's poem two before, sings of love burning beneath the heart.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Kiyotada
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Waga koi wa ariso no umi no kaze o itami shikiri ni yosuru nami no ma mo nashi
- Next Poem
-
Aru kai mo nagisa ni yosuru shiranami no ma naku monoomou waga mi narikeri