いづくにか船泊てすらむ安礼の崎
漕ぎ廻み行きし棚無し小舟
漕ぎ廻み行きし棚無し小舟
- Roma-ji
-
Izuku ni ka funahate su ramu are no saki kogitami yukishi tananashi obune
- English Translation
-
Where might it now be,
putting in to harbor—
round Are's cape it rowed,
skirting past and slipping on,
that little boat without a rail?
- Meaning
- Where might it be mooring now—that little boat without side-planks that rowed around Cape Are and slipped away?
- Commentary
-
Book One Miscellaneous Poems 58
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems from the journey of the Retired Empress to Mikawa Province in the second year, mizunoe-tora"
The poet wonders where the little boat that rowed around Cape Are and vanished might now be moored. In this thought for the fate of a departed boat, the loneliness and unease of travel quietly seep through, and it is known as the finest of Kurohito's poems of travel melancholy. The left note names the author as Takechi no Muraji Kurohito.
Takechi no Kurohito was a poet of the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu whose rank and career are unknown. Many of his poems come from royal journeys, and he excelled at landscape poems that quietly gaze on the loneliness of travel.
The first line, izuku ni ka, "where," contains the questioning particle ka, which forms a kakari-musubi with the ramu of the second line.
In the second line, funahate means mooring in harbor and ramu is the attributive of present conjecture: "might it be mooring now?" It closes the kakari-musubi begun by ka, and the poem breaks here.
The third line names Cape Are, thought to be in Mikawa Province. Its location is debated, but the leading view places it near present-day Mito in Toyokawa, Aichi.
In the fourth line, tamu means to round a cape, and shi is the past attributive: "that rowed around and went." It marks a scene the poet actually saw.
The last line, tananashi obune, is a small boat without side-planks. Ending on a noun, and inverted, it leaves a lasting image of the frail little boat.
- Author
- Takechi no Kurohito
- Source
- Manyoshu
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