濁りなき亀井の水をむすびあげて
心の塵をすすぎつるかな
心の塵をすすぎつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Nigori naki kamei no mizu o musubiagete kokoro no chiri o susugitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Of unclouded clear
Kamei waters, I scooped up
a handful and so
the dust that lay upon my heart
I have rinsed away at last.
- Meaning
- Scooping up the unclouded water of the Kamei well in my hands, I have rinsed the dust from my heart.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1926
Headnote: "On seeing the Kamei water at Tennō-ji."
This is the first poem in the sequence on sacred sites and Buddhist services. It tells of scooping up the clear water of the Kamei well and rinsing the dust from the heart. According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing the Kamei water at Tennō-ji.
Touching the purity of the sacred water, the poet feels the defilements of the heart washed away, expressing the joy of pilgrimage and a devout heart.
The author, "Jōtōmon-in," is Fujiwara no Shōshi. Daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, she became empress to Emperor Ichijō and mother of Emperors Go-Ichijō and Go-Suzaku.
Tennō-ji is Shitennō-ji in Settsu Province (present-day Tennōji Ward, Osaka), said to have been founded by Prince Shōtoku. The Kamei water is the sacred spring that wells up in the Kamei Hall within its precincts.
The first line, "nigori naki," shows the purity of the water while suggesting the Buddha's world, free of the murk of defilement.
The second line, "kamei no mizu o," names the sacred water of Tennō-ji and marks the place of pilgrimage.
The third line, "musubiagete," means scooping up water with cupped hands, and has extra syllables.
The fourth line, "kokoro no chiri o," likens the defilements piled up in the heart to dust. It answers the "murk" of the first line, and the clarity of the water turns into the clarity of the heart.
The last line, "susugitsuru kana," closes with the perfective auxiliary "tsu" and the exclamatory "kana": "how thoroughly I have washed it clean!" "Murk," "water," "scoop," and "rinse" are associated words. The author of the next poem is her father, Fujiwara no Michinaga, so father's and daughter's poems stand side by side.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Shōshi
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Watatsumi no soko yori kitsuru hodo mo naku kono mi nagara ni mi o zo kiwamuru