人知れず越ゆと思ふらしあしひきの
山下水に影は見えつつ
山下水に影は見えつつ
- Roma-ji
-
Hito shirezu koyu to omou rashi ashihiki no yamashitamizu ni kage wa mietsutsu
- English Translation
-
Thinking no one knows,
he crosses, so it seems,
the rugged mountain,
yet in the stream at its foot
his form is plain to see.
- Meaning
- It seems he thinks he is crossing the mountain unknown to anyone, yet his form is clearly reflected in the stream flowing at its foot.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 492
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that someone seems to think he is crossing the mountain unseen, yet his form is reflected in the stream at the mountain's foot. Through a reflection in the mountain stream, he wittily conveys how, though one believes one acts in secret, one's form appears where least expected. Taking up Hitomaro's preceding mountain poems, it sings of someone crossing a mountain, and like the moonlight lodged in water in 440 of this book, it catches a reflection in water.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "hito shirezu," means "unknown to others."
Second line, "koyu to omou rashi," means "seems to think he is crossing," with "rashi" an auxiliary of inference from evidence. A line of eight syllables, one too many, the poem breaks here.
Third line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word introducing mountain.
Fourth line, "yamashitamizu ni," means "in the stream at the mountain's foot."
Final line, "kage wa mietsutsu," means "his form keeps showing," with "tsutsu" expressing continuation. As if inverted, the lower verse gives the grounds for the inference in the second line.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Inishie ni arikemu hito mo waga goto ya Miwa no Hibara ni kazashi oriken
- Next Poem
-
Ofu no umi ni funanori suran wagimoko ga akamo no suso ni shio mitsuran ka