紫の雲の林を見わたせば
法にあふちの花咲きにけり
法にあふちの花咲きにけり
- Roma-ji
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Murasaki no kumo no hayashi o miwataseba nori ni ouchi no hana sakinikeri
- English Translation
-
Of purple clouds, this
grove of clouds, as I look out
across it far and wide,
meeting the Law, the ouchi
has burst at last into bloom.
- Meaning
- As I gaze across the grove of purple clouds, I find the chinaberry in bloom, its very name telling of meeting the Law.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1929
Headnote: "Composed on a visit to the Bodhi Lecture at Urin-in around the fifth month."
This is the fourth poem in the sequence on sacred sites and Buddhist services, closing that sequence. Looking out over the grove of Urin-in, the poet sees the ouchi blossoms, whose name means "meeting the Law," in bloom. According to the headnote, it was composed around the fifth month on a visit to the Bodhi Lecture at Urin-in.
In the temple's name, "cloud grove," and the flower's name, "ouchi," she reads the purple clouds of Amida's welcome and the joy of meeting the Law, expressing her delight at attending the service.
The author, "Higo," was a lady-in-waiting and poet of the late Heian period who served in the household of Fujiwara no Morozane, the Kyōgoku Regent, and is also called Kyōgoku Kanpaku-ke no Higo. She was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hyakushu.
Urin-in was a temple at Murasakino in Kyoto. The Bodhi Lecture was a service expounding the Lotus Sutra in prayer for rebirth in paradise, and the Bodhi Lecture at Urin-in is also known as the setting of the Ōkagami.
The first line, "murasaki no," suggests the purple clouds that trail when the Buddha comes in welcome, and also echoes Murasakino, where Urin-in stood. Purple clouds also appear in poems 1937 and 1944 of this book.
The second line, "kumo no hayashi o," unfolds the temple's name, Urin-in, into native Japanese, presenting it as a grove trailed by purple clouds.
The third line, "miwataseba," shows the poet gazing out over the temple grounds from the site of the service.
In the fourth line, "nori ni ouchi no," "ouchi" is a pivot word joining "au," to meet the Law, and "ouchi," the chinaberry tree. The chinaberry bears pale purple flowers in early summer, echoing the "purple" of the first line.
The last line, "hana sakinikeri," closes with the perfective "nu" and the exclamatory "keri," expressing the delight of noticing that the flowers have bloomed. The season of the fifth-month Bodhi Lecture coincides with the chinaberry's flowering.
- Author
- Higo
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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