山河の音にのみ聞くももしきを
身をはやながら見るよしもがな
身をはやながら見るよしもがな
- Roma-ji
-
Yamakawa no oto ni nomi kiku momoshiki o mi o haya nagara miru yoshi mogana
- English Translation
-
Like a mountain stream,
only by its sound I hear
of the palace now;
would there were a way to see it
with myself as once I was.
- Meaning
- Now I hear of the palace only by report, as one hears a mountain stream by its sound alone. If only there were a way for me to see it again, just as I was in former days.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1000
Headnote: "Composed and written at the end of the poems I presented when poems were called for"
Ise composed this and wrote it at the end of the poems she presented when poems were called for. Now she hears of the palace only by report, like the sound of a mountain stream, and wishes she could see it again as the person she once was, expressing her longing for the court she had served.
Haya carries both the "swift" current of the mountain stream and haya, "formerly," expressing the nostalgia of one who has withdrawn from court service.
Whereas the opening poem, 933, sang of the changing world through the pools and shallows of the Asuka River, this closing poem also sings of a mountain stream, so that the book begins and ends with rivers.
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, "like a mountain stream," is written 山河 in the text; the sound of the current leads to "sound" in the second line.
The second line, "only by its sound I hear," uses oto ni kiku, "to hear by report."
The third line, "of the palace," renders momoshiki, a word for the imperial court.
The fourth line, "with myself as once I was," contains the pivot word haya, the "swift" current and "formerly."
The last line, "would there were a way to see it," uses the wish particle mogana.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Hito shirezu omou kokoro wa harugasumi tachiidete kimi ga me ni mo mienamu
- Next Poem
-
Kimi ga yo ni ōsaka yama no iwashimizu kogakuretari to omoikeru kana