浮草の一葉なりとも磯がくれ
思ひなかけそ沖つ白波
思ひなかけそ沖つ白波
- Roma-ji
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Ukikusa no hitoha naritomo isogakure omoi na kake so okitsu shiranami
- English Translation
-
Of floating duckweed,
though it be a single leaf,
hidden by the rocks—
do not set your heart on it,
O white waves of the offing.
- Meaning
- Even if it is but a single leaf of floating weed hidden among the rocks, do not set your heart on it, you white waves of the offing.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1962
Headnote: "The Precept Against Stealing."
This is the second poem in the sequence on the Ten Precepts. Calling to the white waves of the offing, it warns them not to set their hearts on anything hidden in the shelter of the rocks, even a single leaf of floating weed. The headnote gives as its topic the Precept Against Stealing, one of the Ten Precepts.
Addressing "white waves," another name for thieves, it warns that one must not think of stealing what belongs to another, however trifling.
No author is named in the text; continuing from the preceding poem, this is a poem by Jakuzen Hōshi, who, whose lay name was Fujiwara no Yorinari, was a son of Fujiwara no Tametada. With his elder brothers Jakunen and Jakuchō he lived in retirement at Ōhara, and the three were called the Three Jaku of Ōhara. He was a close friend of Saigyō.
The Precept Against Stealing forbids taking what belongs to others. "White waves" (shiranami) is also used as another name for bandits.
The first line, "ukikusa no," is floating weed drifting on the water, a figure for something trifling.
The second line, "hitoha naritomo," means "even a single leaf," stressing that one must not steal even the smallest thing.
The third line, "isogakure," means being hidden in the shelter of the rocks, or what is so hidden, pointing to things owned by others.
The fourth line, "omoi na kake so," is a prohibition in the "na ... so" form: do not set your heart on it. Waves "dashing" (kakeru) against the rocks overlaps with "setting" (kakeru) one's heart.
The last line, "okitsu shiranami," is the white waves rising in the offing, a noun ending that addresses the "white waves" who are also thieves. The warning against stealing is wrapped in a seashore scene of floating weed, rocks, and white waves.
- Author
- Jakuzen
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Watatsumi no fukaki ni shizumu isari sede tamotsu kai aru nori o motomeyo
- Next Poem
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Saranu dani omoki ga ue ni sayogoromo waga tsuma naranu tsuma na kasane so