浅してふことをゆゆしみ山の井は
掘りし濁りに影は見えぬぞ
掘りし濁りに影は見えぬぞ
- Roma-ji
-
Asashi chō koto o yuyushimi yama no i wa horishi nigori ni kage wa mienu zo
- English Translation
-
Fearing the word "shallow,"
I dug the mountain well
deeper still,
and now in the muddied water
no reflection can be seen
- Meaning
- Dreading to be called shallow, I dug the mountain well deeper; it is the mud from that digging that keeps any reflection from showing.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems I 531
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that, loath to be called shallow, he dug the mountain well deeper, and it is the mud from the digging that keeps any reflection from showing. Taking up the image of the mountain well, he retorts that his silence came not from a shallow heart but from trying to make it deeper.
It is a reply to the preceding poem by Ki no Menoto. It answers "kage," "yama no i" and "asaki" with "asashi," "yama no i" and "kage wa mienu."
The poet, Taira no Sadafun, was a son of Taira no Yoshikaze and was also called Heichū. Known as a great lover, he is regarded as the hero of the Heichū Monogatari and is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages.
The first line, "Asashi chō," means "being called shallow," taking up "asaki yori" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "koto o yuyushimi," means "since I found the word hateful," using the "o ... mi" construction to express cause.
The third line, "yama no i wa," means "the shallow mountain well," the same line as the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "horishi nigori ni," means "because of the mud from digging it deeper."
The last line, "kage wa mienu zo," means "that is why no reflection shows," answering "kage dani mo miezu" in the first and second lines of the preceding poem.
- Author
- Taira no Sadafun
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kage dani mo miezu nariyuku yama no i wa asaki yori mata mizu ya taenishi
- Next Poem
-
Ikutabi ka Ikuta no ura ni tachikaeri nami ni waga mi o uchinurasuran