水の綾に紅葉の鏡重ねつつ
川瀬に波のたたぬ日ぞなき
川瀬に波のたたぬ日ぞなき
- Roma-ji
-
Mizu no aya ni momiji no kagami kasanetsutsu kawase ni nami no tatanu hi zo naki
- English Translation
-
On the water's twill,
layering the mirrored red
of the autumn leaves,
there is never a day the waves
on the shoals do not rise and cut.
- Meaning
- Layering the mirror of autumn leaves upon the twill patterns of the water, there is never a day when the waves on the shoals do not rise.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 197
Headnote: "On seeing autumn leaves flowing down the Ōi River"
Layering the mirror-like surface that reflects the autumn leaves upon the twill-like ripples of the Ōi River, the waves on the shoals rise every day without fail. Likening the ripples on the water to the twill of woven cloth, the poem lets "tata" echo both waves rising and cloth being cut. According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing autumn leaves flowing down the Ōi River.
The author, written as Kenshu Hōshi, appears to have been a monk of the mid-Heian period; little is known of his life.
The second line of the main text reads "momiji no kagami" (mirror of autumn leaves), which does not match "momiji no nishiki" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.
First line, "mizu no aya ni," means "on the twill-like ripples of the water," and has an extra syllable.
Second line, "momiji no kagami," refers to the surface of the water as a mirror reflecting the autumn leaves. Following the reading line, it would be "momiji no nishiki," the same phrase as the fourth line of the preceding poem.
Third line, "kasanetsutsu," means "layering," with "tsutsu" expressing repetition and continuation.
Fourth line, "kawase ni nami no," refers to the waves rising on the river's shoals. It is the same phrase as in 143 of this book; whereas that poem sang of the waves of the River of Heaven, this one sings of those of the Ōi River.
Final line, "tatanu hi zo naki," is a pivot word in which "tata" means both waves rising and twill being cut. The particle "zo" is resolved by the attributive "naki." Like the final line of 191 of this book, "nakanu hi zo naki," it uses a double negative to stress that it happens every day.
- Author
- Kenshu
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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