黒牛の海紅にほふももしきの
大宮人しあさりすらしも
大宮人しあさりすらしも
- Roma-ji
-
Kuroushi no umi kurenai niou momoshiki no ōmiyabito shi asari surashi mo
- English Translation
-
On Kuroushi's sea
a crimson glow is shining—
from the palace
of the hundred stones, it seems,
courtiers seek shells on the shore
- Meaning
- The sea of Kuroushi glows crimson—the court ladies of the great palace must be out searching for shells along the shore.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1218
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
The poet infers that the sea of Kuroushi glows crimson because court ladies in red skirts are searching the beach for shells and seaweed. In the crimson reflected on the shore, the splendid figures of the courtiers attending the imperial progress come into view.
According to the left note it is one of the seven poems by Lord Fujiwara, poems of a journey to Kii together with poems 1194 and 1195 in this book. The sea of Kuroushi is thought to be the sea near Kuroe in present-day Kainan, Kii.
The author, "Fujiwara-kyō," is an honorific title for a senior noble of the Fujiwara clan. He is said to be either Fujiwara no Fusasaki or Fujiwara no Maro, and there is no settled view as to whom it refers. The poem is thought to have been composed while attending an imperial progress to Kii.
The first line names the sea of Kuroushi in Kii and has an extra syllable.
In the second line, "niou" means to glow with color, and the poem pauses here.
The third line uses "momoshiki no," a pillow word for "ōmiya" (great palace), as in the first line of poem 1076 in this book.
In the fourth line, "shi" is emphatic: "the courtiers." The word is the same as in the second line of poem 1076.
In the final line, "rashi" expresses inference, grounded in the crimson glow of the second line.
- Author
- Lord Fujiwara
- Source
- Manyoshu
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