うち寄する波の声にてしるきかな
吹上の浜の秋の初風
吹上の浜の秋の初風
- Roma-ji
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Uchiyosuru nami no koe nite shiruki kana fukiage no hama no aki no hatsukaze
- English Translation
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By the breaking waves
and the voices that they raise,
plain it is to know—
on the shore of Fukiage,
the first wind of autumn.
- Meaning
- By the voice of the breaking waves it is plain to know: the first wind of autumn has come to the shore of Fukiage.
- Commentary
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Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1609
Headnote: "Composed when Norinaga had poems composed on famous places."
This is the first poem of a sequence on bays of the provinces. By the sound of the breaking waves, it is plain that the first wind of autumn has blown on the shore of Fukiage. According to the headnote, it was composed when Norinaga had poems composed on famous places.
The author, "Hafuribe no Narinaka," was a Shinto priest who served as negi at the Hie Shrine.
The "Norinaga" of the headnote is Fujiwara no Norinaga, a poet who served close to Retired Emperor Sutoku.
The shore of Fukiage lies on the coast of Kii Province, near the mouth of the Kinokawa River in present-day Wakayama. Because of its name, "blowing up," it is often sung together with the wind.
The first line, "uchiyosuru," means "breaking in." "Uchi" is a prefix that smooths the rhythm.
The second line, "nami no koe nite," means "by the sound of the waves." Like "koe uchisouru suma no uranami" in 1599 in this book, it hears the sound of the waves as a "voice."
The third line, "shiruki kana," means "how plain it is." "Kana" is an exclamatory final particle, and the poem breaks here after the third line.
The fourth line, "fukiage no hama no," means "of the shore of Fukiage" in Kii. The name "Fukiage," "blowing up," resonates well with a scene of autumn wind.
The last line, "aki no hatsukaze," ends in a noun, and through inversion it reveals only at the close what is so plain. It is a poem that catches the unseen arrival of autumn by ear.
- Author
- Hafuribe no Narinaka
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Sumiyoshi no matsu wa matsu tomo omōede kimi ga chitose no kage zo koishiki
- Next Poem
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Okitsu kaze yosamu ni nare ya tago no ura no ama no moshiobi taki masaruran