水の面にあや吹き乱る春風や
池の氷を今日は解くらむ
池の氷を今日は解くらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Mizu no omo ni aya fukimidaru harukaze ya ike no kōri o kyō wa toku ramu
- English Translation
-
Upon the water
ruffling patterns of twill silk,
is it the spring wind
that today the ice upon
the pond is melting away?
- Meaning
- The spring wind that ruffles the water into patterns like figured silk—is it melting the ice of the pond today?
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems I 11
Headnote: "A poem on early spring."
Seeing the spring wind raise ripples on the pond in early spring, the poet surmises that this very wind is melting the pond's ice today. Likening the ripples on the surface to the patterns of figured silk, he captures the coming of spring with delicacy.
According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of early spring. The idea of the spring wind melting ice also appears in Ki no Tsurayuki's poem on the beginning of spring in the Kokin Wakashū, which asks whether the wind of the first day of spring is melting the water he once scooped up with dampened sleeves.
The poet, Ki no Tomonori, was the son of Ki no Aritomo and a cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki. He was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū but died before its completion, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The first line, "Upon the water," shows the surface of the pond.
In the second line, "aya" is the pattern of figured silk, likening the ripples the wind stirs on the water to woven designs.
In the third line, "ya" is an interrogative particle corresponding to "ramu" in the last line. The spring wind also echoes the "blowing wind" of the next poem, 12.
The fourth line, "the ice upon the pond," shows the ice that formed during winter.
In the last line, "ramu" is a present conjecture, surmising that the ice is melting at this very moment.
- Author
- Ki no Tomonori
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Furusato no nobe mi ni yuku to iu meru o iza morotomo ni wakana tsumiten
- Next Poem
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Fuku kaze ya haru tachi kinu to tsugetsuran eda ni komoreru hana saki ni keri