飛鳥川我が身ひとつの淵瀬ゆゑ
なべての世をも恨みつるかな
なべての世をも恨みつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Asukagawa waga mi hitotsu no fuchise yue nabete no yo o mo uramitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Asuka River—
for the deeps and shallows
of my lot alone
I have come to bear a grudge
against the whole of the world
- Meaning
- Like the Asuka River whose deeps and shallows shift, it is only my own rise and fall, yet I have come to resent the whole of the world.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1232
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that because of the deeps and shallows of his own lot, like the Asuka River, he has resented the whole world. Though it is only the turns of his own fortune, he reflects that he has come to resent everything in the world.
It draws on the impermanence of the Asuka River, whose deeps turn to shallows, known from the Kokinshu poem "Yo no naka wa nani ka tsune naru Asukagawa."
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.
The first line, "Asukagawa," is the Asuka River in Yamato, a famous poetic place standing for impermanence because its deeps and shallows shift so often.
The second line, "waga mi hitotsu no," means "of my own self alone," set against "nabete no yo" in the fourth line.
The third line, "fuchise yue," means "because of the deeps and shallows," a figure for the rise and fall of his fortunes.
The fourth line, "nabete no yo o mo," means "even the whole of the world."
The last line, "uramitsuru kana," means "I have come to resent," with "kana" exclamatory. It shares "uramitsuru" with the third line of 1217 of this book.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Ōigawa ukaberu fune no kagaribi ni Ogura no yama mo na nomi narikeri
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