夕暮れの籬は山と見えななむ
夜は越えじと宿りとるべく
夜は越えじと宿りとるべく
- Roma-ji
-
Yūgure no magaki wa yama to mienanamu yoru wa koeji to yadori torubeku
- English Translation
-
O let the brushwood fence
at dusk appear
to be a mountain,
so that, not crossing it by night,
my guest will stay the night.
- Meaning
- At this twilight hour, let my low brushwood fence look like a mountain, so that my guest, unwilling to cross it in the dark, will decide to stay the night.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Parting Poems 392
Headnote: "Composed when someone who had come to Kazan was about to go home toward evening"
This poem was composed when someone who had visited Henjō at Kazan was about to leave as evening came on. If the low fence looked like a mountain, the guest would hesitate to cross it at night and would stay; with this light-hearted conceit the poet expresses his wish to keep his guest.
The author, "Archbishop Henjō," was a monk whose lay name was Yoshimine no Munesada. A grandson of Emperor Kanmu, he served Emperor Ninmyō and took the tonsure upon the emperor's death. He founded Gangyōji at Kazan and rose to the rank of archbishop. He is one of the Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, "at dusk," marks the hour when the guest is about to leave and connects to "night" in the fourth line. From this poem through 395, poems by monks set at mountain temples are placed together.
The second line, "the fence a mountain," uses magaki for a low fence of bamboo or brushwood, which the poet hopes to see as a mountain.
The third line, "O let it appear," joins the emphatic na with the desiderative particle namu, expressing a strong wish. The poem breaks after this line.
The fourth line, "not crossing it by night," uses the negative volitional ji, imagining the guest's thought: I will not cross it at night.
The last line, "so my guest will stay," uses beku, "so that," presenting in inverted order the purpose of the wish in the third line.
- Author
- Henjō
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Kimi ga yuku Koshi no Shirayama shiranedomo yuki no manimani ato wa tazunemu
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Wakare o ba yama no sakura ni makasetemu tomemu tomeji wa hana no manimani