水もなく舟も通はぬこのしまに
いかでかあまのなまめかるらん
いかでかあまのなまめかるらん
- Roma-ji
-
Mizu mo naku fune mo kayowanu kono shima ni ikade ka ama no namamekaru ran
- English Translation
-
To this isle of Ko
where there is no water near
and no boats come by,
how is it a fisher-nun
comes so gracefully arrayed?
- Meaning
- To this island where there is no water and no boats pass, how is it that a fisher—no, a nun—comes looking so charming?
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Names of Things 378
Headnote: "On seeing a nun visiting Konoshima"
The poet jests, wondering how a nun, rather than a fisher, could appear so charming at Konoshima, where there is no water and no boats pass. According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing a nun visiting Konoshima in Yamashiro. Laying the place name Konoshima and the nun of the headnote onto "this island" and "fisher" in the poem, he turns them into wit by bringing in the fishers who ought to be found on islands.
The author, written as Sukemi, is Fujiwara no Sukemi. A son of Fujiwara no Hirotsune, he was a mid-Heian poet known as Tōroku. He excelled at poems hiding the names of things, and his personal collection is the Tōrokushū.
First line, "mizu mo naku," means "with no water."
Second line, "fune mo kayowanu," means "where no boats pass." With the first line, it says that though it is an island, there is no sea.
Third line, "kono shima ni," plays on "this island" and Konoshima in Yamashiro. After the sandbar of the preceding poem, a place name by the water is sung of.
Fourth line, "ikade ka ama no," means "how is it that the fisher," playing on "ama" as fisher and as nun. The particle "ka" is a questioning particle.
Final line, "namamekaru ran," means "is so charming," with "ka" resolved by the attributive "ran."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Sukemi
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Shiranami no uchikakuru su no kawakanu ni waga tamoto koso otorazarikere
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Uete inishi hito mo minaku ni akihagi no tare miyo to ka wa hana no sakikemu