我が上に露ぞ置くなる天の河
門渡る舟のかいのしづくか
門渡る舟のかいのしづくか
- Roma-ji
-
Waga ue ni tsuyu zo oku naru ama no gawa towataru fune no kai no shizuku ka
- English Translation
-
Upon me, it seems,
the dew comes settling down—
from the River of Heaven,
a boat crossing at the ford:
is it drops from its oar?
- Meaning
- Dew seems to be falling upon me. Could it be drops shaken from the oar of a boat crossing the ford of the River of Heaven?
- Commentary
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Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 863
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet likens the night dew settling on his body to drops falling from the oar of a boat crossing the River of Heaven. The generous fancy that links earthly dew and the heavenly river carries the mood of the Tanabata night.
This poem opens Miscellaneous Poems I. Autumn Poems I in Book Four has a group of Tanabata poems, but here, with topic unknown, the poem stands apart from the seasons and opens the miscellaneous section with a vision joining heaven and earth. The author is unknown.
First line "waga ue ni" places the dew on the speaker's own body, anchoring the view in one person on earth.
Second line "tsuyu zo oku naru" closes the kakari-musubi of the particle zo with naru, the attributive form of the hearsay-inference auxiliary nari. It senses what cannot be seen, and the poem pauses here.
Third line "ama no gawa" lifts the gaze at once to the sky. Poem 882 in this book also sings of the River of Heaven, as a stream that carries the moon, echoing this opening poem.
Fourth line "towataru fune no": to is the narrow crossing of a river, suggesting the boat in which the Herdsman crosses to the Weaver on Tanabata night.
Fifth line "kai no shizuku ka" ends with a question guessing that the dew is drops from the oar. Beginning with dew on earth and ending with an oar in heaven, the poem can be read as answering the last poem of the book, 932, which closes with the dripping image of rice ears "stripped and hanging."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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