都より雲の八重立つ奥山の
横川の水はすみよかるらむ
横川の水はすみよかるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Miyako yori kumo no yae tatsu okuyama no Yokawa no mizu wa sumiyokaru ramu
- English Translation
-
From the capital
the clouds rise in eightfold layers
over the deep hills;
the waters of Yokawa there,
are they clear, and good to dwell by?
- Meaning
- In the deep mountains, far from the capital beyond eightfold layers of cloud, are the waters of Yokawa clear, and is it good to live there?
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1718
Headnote: "Sent on hearing that Lesser Captain Takamitsu had climbed to Yokawa and shaved his head."
This is the first of an exchange between one who had taken vows and one who remained in the capital. It asks whether the waters of Yokawa, in mountains hidden from the capital by layer upon layer of cloud, are clear and pleasant to live by. According to the headnote, the emperor sent it on hearing that Lesser Captain Fujiwara no Takamitsu had gone up to Yokawa on Mount Hiei and taken vows. It carries both regret at his leaving the world and concern for his life in the mountains.
The author, "Tenryaku Gyoka," meaning a poem of the Tenryaku sovereign, is Emperor Murakami. A son of Emperor Daigo, his reign was praised as the Tenryaku era of good rule. He set up a poetry office in the Pear Chamber and ordered the compilation of the Gosen Wakashū.
Fujiwara no Takamitsu, a son of Fujiwara no Morosuke, was Lesser Captain of the Right; in Ōwa 1 he took vows at Yokawa on Mount Hiei under the religious name Nyokaku, later moving to Tōnomine. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Yokawa is one of the three precincts of Mount Hiei.
The first line, "miyako yori," means "as seen from the capital," first setting out the emperor's position there.
The second line, "kumo no yae tatsu," means "where clouds rise in eightfold layers." It expresses the distance between capital and mountain, and the same phrase is repeated in the next poem.
The third line, "okuyama no," is the deep mountains far from human dwellings, here the recesses of Mount Hiei.
The fourth line, "Yokawa no mizu wa," is the water flowing at Yokawa. It works in the place name and lets water stand for life in the mountains.
In the last line, "sumiyokaru ramu," "sumi" is a pivot word meaning both "water running clear" and "dwelling." "Ramu" is an auxiliary of present conjecture, imagining life in the distant mountains.
- Author
- Emperor Murakami
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Inishie no ama ya keburi to narinu ramu hitome mo mienu Shiogama no ura
- Next Poem
-
Momoshiki no uchi nomi tsune ni koishikute kumo no yae tatsu yama wa sumiushi