吹く風の下の塵にもあらなくに
さも立ちやすき我がなき名かな
さも立ちやすき我がなき名かな
- Roma-ji
-
Fuku kaze no shita no chiri ni mo aranaku ni samo tachiyasuki waga nakina kana
- English Translation
-
Though I am not dust
that lies beneath the blowing wind,
how easily, then,
it rises up and flies about—
this rumor without ground
- Meaning
- Though I am not the dust beneath the blowing wind, how easily it rises—this baseless rumor attached to my name!
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1180
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that, though she is not dust beneath the blowing wind, the baseless rumor about her rises all too easily. She laments the burden of groundless gossip, which springs up as readily as dust whirled by the wind.
Following the preceding poem about a woman whose name was caught up in rumor, this one too laments a rumor that rises easily, so poems about gossip continue.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugikage, governor of Ise, and served Emperor Uda's consort Onshi. She won the favor of Emperor Uda and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, she is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo."
The first line, "Fuku kaze no," means "of the blowing wind."
The second line, "shita no chiri ni mo," means "dust beneath it," light dust tossed up by the wind.
The third line, "aranaku ni," means "though I am not," with "naku ni" the nominalized negative of "zu" plus "ni," expressing an adversative sense.
The fourth line, "samo tachiyasuki," means "how easily it rises," with "tatsu," to rise, a word related to dust and overlaid with a rumor arising.
The last line, "waga nakina kana," means "my baseless rumor," with "nakina" an unfounded report of an affair. "Kana" is exclamatory.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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