隠れ沼に住む鴛鴦の声絶えず
なけどかひなきものにぞありける
なけどかひなきものにぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Kakurenu ni sumu oshidori no koe taezu nakedo kai naki mono ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
Like mandarin ducks
that dwell in a hidden marsh,
their voices never ceasing,
I cry and cry, and yet
it comes to nothing at all
- Meaning
- Like the mandarin ducks living in a hidden marsh whose cries never cease, I weep without end, yet it has all been in vain.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems III 775
Headnote: "Sent to someone."
The poet says that like mandarin ducks crying ceaselessly in a hidden marsh, he weeps, yet to no avail. He sees himself in the ducks calling for their mates in a secluded marsh, lamenting a love that is not answered however much he weeps in secret.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to someone.
The poet, called "the Minister of the Right," was Fujiwara no Morosuke. The second son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, he rose to Minister of the Right. Also called the Kujō Minister of the Right, he took Princess Kinshi as his wife.
The first line, "Kakurenu ni," means "in a marsh hidden by grasses," figuring a secret love.
The second line, "sumu oshidori no," means "of the mandarin ducks that live there." Mandarin ducks were thought to be devoted mates.
The third line, "koe taezu," means "their voices never ceasing."
In the fourth line, "nakedo kai naki," "nake" is a pivot word meaning both a bird "calling" and a person "weeping."
The last line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "it has been such a thing," with "zo" an emphatic particle closing on the attributive "keru," a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Morosuke
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Kazuragi ya kumeji no hashi ni araba koso omou kokoro o nakazora ni seme
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Tsukubane no mine yori otsuru minanogawa koi zo tsumorite fuchi to narikeru