葦辺行く鴨の羽交ひに霜降りて
寒き夕は大和し思ほゆ
寒き夕は大和し思ほゆ
- Roma-ji
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Ashibe yuku kamo no hagai ni shimo furite samuki yūbe wa yamato shi omōyu
- English Translation
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Where the mallards glide
among the reeds, on their wings
the frost settles white;
on such a chill evening
I think of Yamato, home.
- Meaning
- On evenings so cold that frost settles on the folded wings of the ducks gliding among the reeds, I find my heart turning to Yamato.
- Commentary
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Book One Miscellaneous Poems 64
Headnote: "A poem composed by Prince Shiki when the Emperor journeyed to the Naniwa Palace in the third year of Keiun, hinoe-uma"
Attending a royal journey to Naniwa, the prince longs for his home in Yamato on an evening so cold that frost settles on the wings of the ducks gliding through the reeds. Capturing the delicate image of frost on a duck's folded wings, it vividly expresses the cold and loneliness of travel, and it is known as the finest of Prince Shiki's fresh landscape poems. It dates from Emperor Monmu's journey to Naniwa in 706, the third year of Keiun.
Prince Shiki was a son of Emperor Tenji. As the throne passed down Emperor Tenmu's line, he never took a leading role in politics, but he is known as a poet of fresh, luminous landscape verse. His son, Prince Shirakabe, later took the throne as Emperor Kōnin.
The first line, "gliding along the reeds," sets the scene of the inlets of Naniwa.
In the second line, hagai is where a bird's folded wings overlap. This eye for fine detail lends the scene a delicate touch.
The third line, "frost has fallen," continues in a continuative form. It may be read as frost actually settling on the ducks' backs, or as an expression of cold so sharp it seems so.
The fourth line, "on cold evenings," takes up the chill scene of the first three lines and turns toward homesickness.
In the last line, shi is emphatic and omōyu means "comes spontaneously to mind": "Yamato rises in my heart." It closes with the same "... shi omōyu" form as the last line of poem 7 in this book. The line is hypermetric.
- Author
- Prince Shiki
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Iza kodomo hayaku yamato e ōtomo no mitsu no hamamatsu machikoinu ramu
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Arare utsu arare matsubara suminoe no otohiotome to miredo akanu kamo