山伏も野臥もかくて試みつ
今は舎人の閨ぞゆかしき
今は舎人の閨ぞゆかしき
- Roma-ji
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Yamabushi mo nobushi mo kakute kokoromitsu ima wa toneri no neya zo yukashiki
- English Translation
-
Mountain ascetic,
field ascetic, both of these
I have tried by now;
what I long to see at last
is a palace page's bedroom.
- Meaning
- I have tried being both a mountain ascetic and a field ascetic; now what I long to see is the bedroom of a palace attendant.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 529
Headnote: "In reply"
The poet replies that having already tried being both a mountain ascetic and a field ascetic, he would now like to see the bedroom of a palace attendant. Teased in the preceding poem, 528, for becoming a field ascetic, he brushes it off as something already done and turns the joke back, saying that next he would like to peek into a worldly attendant's bedroom. After lining up the words of ascetic practice he brings in a worldly bedroom, a light reply that answers the teasing with a bigger joke.
The author, Monk Kenshu, is a monk of whom little is known.
First line, "yamabushi mo," means "a mountain ascetic too," taking up the first line of the preceding poem, 528, "yama naranu."
Second line, "nobushi mo kakute," means "and a field ascetic too, in this way," taking up "nobushi ni" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
Third line, "kokoromitsu," means "I have tried," with "tsu" a perfective auxiliary. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "ima wa toneri no," means "now, a palace attendant's," bringing in a court attendant against the mountain and field ascetics.
Final line, "neya zo yukashiki," means "the bedroom I long to see," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "yukashiki," the attributive form of the adjective "yukashi."
- Author
- Monk Kenshu
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yama naranu sumika amata ni kiku hito no nobushi ni toku mo narinikeru kana
- Next Poem
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Watatsumi wa ama no fune koso ari to kike nori tagaete mo kogiidetaru kana