聞きしごとまこと尊くくすしくも
神さびをるかこれの水島
神さびをるかこれの水島
- Roma-ji
-
Kikishi goto makoto tōtoku kusushiku mo kamusabi oru ka kore no Mizushima
- English Translation
-
Just as I had heard,
truly sacred and holy,
wondrous as it is,
how divine it stands before me—
this island of Mizushima.
- Meaning
- Just as I had heard, how truly sacred and wondrous, how godlike it stands—this island, Mizushima.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 245
Headnote: "Two poems by Prince Nagata when, dispatched to Tsukushi, he crossed to Mizushima"
Prince Nagata, sent to Tsukushi, composed this on crossing to the island of Mizushima in Higo. The island was known from the Nihon Shoki legend in which Emperor Keikō obtained cold spring water there on his royal tour, and it is identified with a small island at the mouth of the Kuma River in present-day Yatsushiro, Kumamoto. Marveling that it is as divine as he had heard, he places "this Mizushima" at the end in praise of the land.
The poet, Prince Nagata, was a royal of the early Nara period who served as Governor of Ōmi and Master of Settsu, among other posts, and died in Tenpyō 9 (737).
First line "Just as I had heard": shi is the attributive of the past auxiliary ki—exactly as long reported.
Second line "truly sacred" expresses the emotion of seeing a legendary place with his own eyes.
Third line "wondrous as it is": kusushi means mysterious and numinous.
Fourth line "how divine it stands": kamusabu means to appear godlike, and ka is exclamatory; the sentence breaks here.
Fifth line "this island of Mizushima": kore no is the old word for "this." By inversion the island's name comes last, and the noun ending seals the praise.
- Author
- Prince Nagata
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Miyoshino no Mifune no yama ni tatsu kumo no tsune ni aramu to waga omowanaku ni
- Next Poem
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Ashikita no Nosaka no ura yu funade shite Mizushima ni yukamu nami tatsu na yume