飛鳥川淵にもあらぬわが宿も
せにかはりゆくものにぞありける
せにかはりゆくものにぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Asukagawa fuchi ni mo aranu waga yado mo se ni kawari yuku mono ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
Asuka River:
though it is no deep pool,
this house of mine too
has turned to shallows, to coin,
so I find it goes with things.
- Meaning
- My house is no deep pool of the Asuka River, yet it too, I find, has changed, as pools turn to shallows, into coin.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 990
Headnote: "Composed on selling my house"
Ise composed this when she sold her house. Drawing on "yesterday's deep pool becomes today's shallows" from the opening poem of this book, 933, she wittily says that though her house is no pool of the Asuka River, it too has turned, as pools become shallows, into se, "shallows," that is, zeni, "money."
She turns the loneliness of parting with her house into a pun based on a famous poem on impermanence, revealing her quick wit. Through this echo of the opening poem, the theme of impermanence recurs within the book.
The author is Ise, daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise. She served Onshi, empress of Emperor Uda, bore a son to Emperor Uda, and later bore the poet Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line names the Asuka River in Yamato, a river whose pools and shallows are never fixed, drawing on 933 in this book.
The second line, "though it is no deep pool," sets up the comparison.
The third line, "this house of mine too," brings in her own house.
The fourth line, "has turned to shallows, to coin," contains the pivot word se, the "shallows" of a river and zeni, "money."
The last line, "so I find it goes with things," uses zo with the attributive keru.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Kaze no ue ni arika sadamenu chiri no mi wa yukue mo shirazu narinu beranari
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Furusato wa mishi goto mo arazu ono no e no kuchishi tokoro zo koishikarikeru