朝な朝なけづれば積もる落ち髪の
乱れて物を思ふころかな
乱れて物を思ふころかな
- Roma-ji
-
Asana asana kezureba tsumoru ochigami no midarete mono o omou koro kana
- English Translation
-
Morning after morning
as I comb, it piles up so,
the hair that falls out;
tangled like it, these days
how my heart is lost in thought!
- Meaning
- Like the fallen hair that piles up each morning as I comb it, all tangled, so these days my heart is tangled in troubled thoughts.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 669
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that like the fallen hair that piles up each morning as it is combed, all tangled, the poet's heart these days is tangled in troubled thoughts. With the upper verse as a preface, it likens the daily mounting turmoil of love to the tangle of hair that gathers each day. The art lies in turning from an everyday scene close at hand to the heart in love.
The author, written as "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. He was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "asana asana," means "morning after morning," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Second line, "kezureba tsumoru," means "as I comb, it piles up," with "ba" after the perfective form meaning "whenever."
Third line, "ochigami no," means "like the fallen hair," and up to here the lines form a preface leading to "midare," tangled, in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "midarete mono o," means "tangled, thoughts," overlaying tangled hair with a troubled heart.
Final line, "omou koro kana," means "these days of brooding," with "kana" exclamatory.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Mikumano no ura no hamayū momoe naru kokoro wa omoedo tada ni awanu kamo
- Next Poem
-
Waga tame wa tanai no shimizu nurukeredo nao kakiyaramu sate wa sumu ya to