岩間もる清水を宿にせきとめて
ほかより夏を過ぐしつるかな
ほかより夏を過ぐしつるかな
- Roma-ji
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Iwama moru shimizu o yado ni sekitomete hoka yori natsu o sugushitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Damming in my garden
the clear spring that trickles
from between the rocks,
I have let the summer pass
somewhere outside my gate
- Meaning
- By damming at my house the clear spring that trickles from between the rocks, I have let the summer pass by outside, as something that has nothing to do with me.
- Commentary
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Book Three Summer Poems 212
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Having led the clear water that trickles from between the rocks into his garden and dammed it there, the poet enjoyed such coolness that summer passed by outside his house, and he could spend it as something that did not concern him. It is a poem on seeking the cool that playfully exaggerates the spring's coolness as keeping summer itself away from the house.
The author, "Priest Shun'e," is Shun'e, son of Minamoto no Toshiyori, who became a monk of Tōdaiji. He named his cell at Shirakawa in the capital the Karin'en, gathering many poets there, and is also known as the teacher of Kamo no Chōmei. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
First line, "iwama moru": "trickling from between the rocks," the same idea as "iwa moru shimizu" in 210 of this book.
Second line, "shimizu o yado ni": "the clear spring, at my house."
Third line, "sekitomete": "damming the flow." Poem 214 of this book likewise opens with "sekitomuru."
Fourth line, "hoka yori natsu o": "hoka" means elsewhere, outside: "summer, outside my house." Like "natsu no hoka naru" in 210 of this book, it places summer outside.
Fifth line, "sugushitsuru kana": "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu" and "kana" exclamatory.
- Author
- Shun'e
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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