かくばかり寝で明かしつる春の夜に
いかに見えつる夢にかあるらん
いかに見えつる夢にかあるらん
- Roma-ji
-
Kaku bakari nede akashitsuru haru no yo ni ikani mietsuru yume ni ka aruran
- English Translation
-
On a night of spring
that I spent so wholly through
without any sleep,
how could I have seen it, then—
what kind of dream could it be?
- Meaning
- On a spring night I passed so entirely without sleep, how could I have seen it? What kind of dream was it?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1385
Headnote: "Sent the next morning after visiting a woman on a spring night."
This is the sixth poem of the dream sequence. The speaker asks how a dream could have been seen on a spring night passed without sleep, likening the meeting with the woman to a dream. According to the headnote, the author visited a woman on a spring night and sent this poem the next morning.
The author, "Yoshinobu Ason," is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. He served as chief priest of Ise Shrine and, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, took part in compiling the Gosenshū.
The first line, "kaku bakari," means "to this extent."
In the second line, "nede akashitsuru," "de" is a negative conjunctive particle: "passed the night without sleeping."
The third line, "haru no yo ni," takes up "haru no yo no," the first line of the two preceding poems, singing of the same spring night.
The fourth line, "ikani mietsuru," means "how did it appear?" Where the preceding group sang of dreams seen in sleep, this poem speaks of a dream seen without sleeping, likening the meeting itself to a dream.
In the last line, "yume ni ka aruran," "ka" is a questioning particle, closed by the attributive "ran." Like "ikani nete mieshi naruran" of 1380, it asks how the dream appeared, so that a dream seen in sleep and a dream seen without sleep form a pair.
- Author
- Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Nuru yume ni utsutsu no usa mo wasurarete omoi nagusamu hodo zo hakanaki
- Next Poem
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Namidagawa mi mo ukinubeki nezame kana hakanaki yume no nagori bakari ni