春の日の影添ふ池の鏡には
柳の眉ぞまづは見えける
柳の眉ぞまづは見えける
- Roma-ji
-
Haru no hi no kage sou ike no kagami ni wa yanagi no mayu zo mazu wa miekeru
- English Translation
-
In the mirror of
the pond, where the light is cast
of the sun of spring,
the willow's eyebrows, first of all,
are what I see reflected
- Meaning
- In the mirror of the pond, bright with the light of the spring sun, the first thing I see is the willow's slender eyebrows.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Spring Poems III 94
Headnote: "By a pond in spring."
Likening the pond's surface, lit by the spring sun, to a mirror, and the willow's slender new leaves to eyebrows, the poet says that in the mirror the brows appear first. Overlaying the scene of willow and pond with a person facing a mirror, the poem gracefully depicts the waterside in spring.
According to the headnote, it was composed beside a pond in spring. The figure of "willow brows," likening young willow leaves to beautiful eyebrows, comes from Chinese poetry.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Haru no hi no," presents the light of the spring sun. 86 of this book also begins with "Haru no hi no."
In the second line, "kage" is sunlight and "sou" means to be added, showing the pond glittering in the sun.
The third line, "kagami ni wa," likens the surface of the pond to a mirror.
The fourth line, "yanagi no mayu zo," likens the long, slender young willow leaves to eyebrows. "Zo" forms a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "keru" in the last line. The willow also appears in 131 of this book.
The last line, "mazu wa miekeru," means that just as one first sees one's brows in a mirror, the willow is the first thing seen in the pond; "keru" expresses a sigh of realization.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Waga yado no nageki wa haru mo shiranaku ni nani ni ka hana o kurabete mo mimu
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Kaku nagara chirade yo o ya wa tsukushitenu hana no tokiwa mo ari to miru beku