あたりさへ涼しかりけり氷室山
まかせし水の凍るのみかは
まかせし水の凍るのみかは
- Roma-ji
-
Atari sae suzushikarikeri Himuroyama makaseshi mizu no kōru nomi ka wa
- English Translation
-
Even all around
how cool it is, the mountain
of the icehouse!
Is it only the water drawn
inside that has frozen hard?
- Meaning
- How cool it is even all around Himuro, the mountain of icehouses! It is not only the water drawn inside that has frozen.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Summer Poems 209
Headnote: "Composed as a poem on icehouses when presenting a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed on "icehouses" for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. At Himuro, the mountain of icehouses, it is not only the water drawn into the icehouse that has frozen; the whole surrounding area is cool. The poem depicts the chill of an icehouse that keeps its ice even in summer cooling the entire mountain, leading into the theme of seeking the cool.
The author, "Ōimikado Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, son of Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Saneyoshi, who rose to Minister of the Right. He was called by this name from his residence at Ōimikado, and was one of the poets of Retired Emperor Sutoku's Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequence.
First line, "atari sae": the additive "sae" gives "even all around."
Second line, "suzushikarikeri": "keri" is exclamatory; the poem pauses here.
Third line, "Himuroyama": a mountain with icehouses. It follows the icehouse of the preceding poem, 208.
Fourth line, "makaseshi mizu no": "makasu" means to draw water in, and "shi" is the attributive past auxiliary: "of the water drawn into the icehouse."
Fifth line, "kōru nomi ka wa": "ka wa" is rhetorical: "is it only that it freezes? Not at all."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Kinyoshi
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Haru aki mo nochi no katami wa naki mono o himuro zo fuyu no nagori narikeru
- Next Poem
-
Yamakage ya iwa moru shimizu oto saete natsu no hoka naru higurashi no koe