秋の夜の暁方のきりぎりす
人づてならで聞かましものを
人づてならで聞かましものを
- Roma-ji
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Aki no yo no akatsukigata no kirigirisu hitozute narade kikamashi mono o
- English Translation
-
In the autumn night,
the cricket singing out
as the dawn drew near—
not through the words of others
would that I had heard it myself.
- Meaning
- The cricket singing toward dawn on an autumn night—I wish I had heard it with my own ears rather than through others.
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1800
Headnote: "Having ordered his courtiers to compose on the topic 'Hearing the Cricket on an Autumn Night,' he retired, and the next morning, on reading their poems."
A poem on an autumn night. He wishes he had heard the cricket singing toward dawn on an autumn night himself rather than through others. According to the headnote, he ordered his courtiers to compose poems on hearing the cricket on an autumn night, retired to bed, and composed this on reading their poems the next morning. It praises the quality of their poems while regretting that he did not hear it himself.
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.
The first line, "aki no yo no," is the autumn night of the topic.
The second line, "akatsukigata no," means "toward dawn, while it is still dark."
The third line, "kirigirisu," is the insect now called kōrogi, the cricket, which sings on autumn nights.
The fourth line, "hitozute narade," means "not through others," referring to his knowing the insect's voice through his courtiers' poems.
In the last line, "kikamashi mono o," "mashi" is counterfactual and "mono o" a concessive sigh. Praising the cricket's song as captured in the poems, he regrets not having heard it himself.
- Author
- Emperor Murakami
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Tachinagara kite dani miseyo omigoromo akanu mukashi no wasuregatami ni
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Nagametsutsu waga omou koto wa higurashi ni noki no shizuku no tayuru yo mo nashi