秋の野のみ草刈り葺き宿れりし
宇治の宮処の仮廬し思ほゆ
宇治の宮処の仮廬し思ほゆ
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no no no mikusa kari fuki yadoreri shi uji no miyako no kariio shi omōyu
- English Translation
-
On the autumn plain
we cut grasses, thatched a roof,
and there made our stay—
at the palace site of Uji
that makeshift hut comes to mind.
- Meaning
- I find myself remembering the makeshift hut at the palace grounds of Uji, where we cut the grasses of the autumn plain, thatched a roof, and lodged for a while.
- Commentary
-
Book One Miscellaneous Poems 7
Headnote: "In the reign of the Sovereign who ruled from the Kawara Palace of Asuka: a poem by Princess Nukata"
A poem fondly recalling the makeshift lodging, thatched with grasses cut from the autumn fields, where the poet stayed at Uji while attending a royal journey. Recollecting the simplicity of that shelter, it also quietly conveys affection for those who shared the moment. The left note cites Yamanoue no Okura's Ruiju Karin, where one text calls it the Sovereign's own poem from a journey to the Hira Palace in the year tsuchinoe-saru; some therefore think Nukata composed or transmitted it on behalf of Empress Kōgyoku.
Princess Nukata is the leading woman poet of the early Man'yōshū. Said to be the daughter of Prince Kagami, she bore Princess Tōchi to Prince Ōama (later Emperor Tenmu) and afterward served Emperor Tenji. She is known for the many poems she composed at court rites and on royal journeys, often voicing the sovereign's own feelings.
The first line, "on the autumn plain," sets the season and names where the grasses grow. Its repeated no gives a light rhythm to open a poem of memory.
The second line, "we cut grasses, thatched a roof," uses the honorific prefix mi before "grasses." It concretely depicts the plainness of a royal journey on which one built one's own shelter. Poem 11 in this book also speaks of cutting grass for a makeshift lodge, and the two correspond as poems of lodging on the road.
The third line, yadoreri shi, combines "to lodge" with the continuative ri and shi, the attributive of the past ki, showing a past experience actually lived. The ki of first-hand past makes clear that this is a poem of recollection.
The fourth line, "at the palace site of Uji," points to where a temporary palace stood in Uji, present-day Uji in Kyoto Prefecture. Miyako means "the place of the palace," and no links it to the hut in the last line.
The last line, kariio shi omōyu, uses the emphatic particle shi and omōyu, "comes spontaneously to mind." The poem closes on the feeling of memories returning unbidden. The line is hypermetric.
- Author
- Princess Nukata
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Yamagoshi no kaze o tokijimi nuru yo ochizu ie naru imo o kakete shinoitsu
- Next Poem
-
Nigitatsu ni funanori semu to tsuki mateba shio mo kanainu ima wa kogiide na