定めなき人の心に比ぶれば
ただ浮島は名のみなりけり
ただ浮島は名のみなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Sadame naki hito no kokoro ni kurabureba tada Ukishima wa na nomi narikeri
- English Translation
-
When I set it beside
a person's ever-changing heart,
I find that Ukishima,
the Floating Isle, is merely
floating in its name alone.
- Meaning
- Compared with a person's ever-changing heart, I find that Ukishima, the Floating Isle, floats in name only.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Love Poems 1249
Headnote: "Ukishima"
The poet says that compared with a person's ever-shifting heart, Ukishima, the Floating Isle, floats in name only. The headnote shows it was composed on the topic of Ukishima. Ukishima, a poetic place in Mutsu, bears the name of something that floats, yet it is no match for the drifting of a human heart, and so the poem reproaches a fickle heart.
The author, written as "Shitagō," is Minamoto no Shitagō. Of the Saga Genji line, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, and wrote the Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "sadame naki," means "never settled," that is, fickle.
Second line, "hito no kokoro ni," means "with a person's heart."
Third line, "kurabureba," means "when compared," with "ba" after the perfective form expressing a condition.
Fourth line, "tada Ukishima wa," means "Ukishima merely," the poetic place Ukishima in Mutsu.
Final line, "na nomi narikeri," means "is so in name only," with "keri" expressing a sigh of realization. It says a person's heart floats more than the Floating Isle does by its name.
- Author
- Minamoto no Shitagō
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Tsurezure to omoeba uki ni ouru ashi no hakanaki yo o ba ikaga tanomamu
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Hitori nomi toshi hekeru ni mo otoraji o kazu naranu mi no aru wa aru ka wa