天の戸をあけぬあけぬと言ひなして
空鳴きしつる鳥の声かな
空鳴きしつる鳥の声かな
- Roma-ji
-
Ama no to o akenu akenu to iinashite soranaki shitsuru tori no koe kana
- English Translation
-
"The door of heaven
has opened, dawn has opened,"
so it declared—
that false crowing of the cock,
what a voice it was
- Meaning
- "Heaven's door has opened, the night has broken," it kept insisting—how false it was, that cock's crowing.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Love Poems II 621
Headnote: "Sent to a woman."
The poet complains of a cock that falsely crowed, insisting that heaven's door had opened and the night had broken. He blames a false cock-crow for the bitterness of having to part before dawn had truly come.
According to the headnote, it was sent to a woman. The conceit recalls the tale of Lord Mengchang in China's Records of the Grand Historian, who had a barrier gate opened by imitating a cock's crow.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Ama no to o," means "the door of heaven," which was said to open at dawn.
In the second line, "ake" is a pivot word joining opening heaven's door and the breaking of dawn; the repetition captures the urgent crowing of the cock.
The third line, "iinashite," means "declaring it so on purpose."
The fourth line, "soranaki shitsuru," means "that crowed in imitation," with "sora" meaning false.
The last line, "tori no koe kana," means "what a voice of the cock," adding "kana" to a noun to exclaim.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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