おぼつかな雲の通ひ路見てしがな
とりのみゆけば跡はかもなし
とりのみゆけば跡はかもなし
- Roma-ji
-
Obotsuka na kumo no kayoiji mite shi gana tori nomi yukeba atohaka mo nashi
- English Translation
-
How uncertain it is!
I would love to see the path
through the clouds above;
since only birds pass that way,
they leave not a single trace.
- Meaning
- How uncertain it is! I wish I could see the paths through the clouds, but since only birds travel them, no trace remains.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Names of Things 386
Headnote: "Natori no miyu (the hot spring of Natori)"
The poet wishes he could see the paths through the clouds, but since only birds travel them, no trace remains and he is left uncertain. Imagining the roads of the sky from the traceless way of birds, the poem hides the name of the hot spring of Natori given in the headnote in the run of sounds "na tori nomi yu" from the third to the fourth line. The headnote names the thing hidden in the poem.
The author, written as Kanemori, is Taira no Kanemori. Of a Taira line descended from Emperor Kōkō, he was a poet of the mid-Heian period. He is known for his performance at the palace poetry contest of the fourth year of Tentoku and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "obotsuka na," means "how uncertain," and the poem pauses here.
Second line, "kumo no kayoiji," means "the paths that come and go through the clouds."
Third line, "mite shi gana," means "I wish I could see," with "te shi gana" expressing a wish. The poem pauses here, and its final "na" runs into the fourth line to begin the name.
Fourth line, "tori nomi yukeba," means "since only birds go," hiding the name "Natori no miyu." Following Natori District in the preceding poem, the hot spring of Natori is sung of.
Final line, "atohaka mo nashi," means "there is no trace."
- Author
- Taira no Kanemori
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ada nari na tori no kōri ni oriiru wa shita yori tokuru koto wa shiranu ka
- Next Poem
-
Akazu shite wakareshi hito no sumu sato wa sa wa kono miyuru yama no anata ka