夜もすがら花の匂ひを思ひやる
心や峰に旅寝しつらむ
心や峰に旅寝しつらむ
- Roma-ji
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Yomosugara hana no nioi o omoiyaru kokoro ya mine ni tabine shitsuramu
- English Translation
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All the night long
thinking of the blossoms' beauty
far away from here,
has my heart, I wonder,
slept a traveler's sleep on the peak?
- Meaning
- All night long my thoughts went out to the beauty of the blossoms far away; has my heart, I wonder, spent the night like a traveler sleeping on the peak?
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems I 59
Headnote: "On the theme "thinking of mountain blossoms at night""
Composed on the theme "thinking of mountain blossoms at night," this poem says that because the poet spent the whole night thinking of the beauty of blossoms on distant mountains, his heart, though his body stayed at home, may have gone off to sleep on the peak as a traveler. The state of a heart that dwells on the blossoms all night is expressed as a journey taken by the heart alone.
The author, "the Later Ninnaji Prince-Priest (Kakushō)," is Prince-Priest Kakushō, a son of Emperor Toba who took holy orders and became abbot of Ninnaji. He was the younger brother of Retired Emperors Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa.
First line, "yomosugara": "all night long," expressing the theme's "night."
Second line, "hana no nioi o": "nioi" is the lovely color or fragrance of the blossoms.
Third line, "omoiyaru": "to send one's thoughts to something far away."
Fourth line, "kokoro ya mine ni": the interrogative "ya" links with "ramu" in the last line. Like 42 in this book, where the heart scatters to the hills on every side, it depicts a heart leaving the body for the mountains.
Fifth line, "tabine shitsuramu": "tsu" marks completion and "ramu" is the attributive of present conjecture: "has it slept a traveler's sleep?"
- Author
- Prince-Priest Kakushō
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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