せきとむる山下水に水隠れて
すみけるものを秋のけしきは
すみけるものを秋のけしきは
- Roma-ji
-
Sekitomuru yamashitamizu ni migakurete sumikeru mono o aki no keshiki wa
- English Translation
-
In the mountain stream
that I have dammed below the hills,
hidden in the water,
it was dwelling there, so clear,
the look of autumn's coming
- Meaning
- Hidden in the water of the mountain stream I had dammed, the look of autumn had been dwelling there all along, as clear as the water itself.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Summer Poems 214
Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Seeking the Cool by a Spring'"
Composed on the topic "Seeking the Cool by a Spring." Cooling himself by the dammed water in the mountain shade, the poet realizes that the look of autumn, which should not yet have come, had been dwelling hidden in that water all along. Pivoting on "sumi," both "dwelling" and "clear," the discovery that autumn lay hidden in the cold, clear water conveys the coolness beside the spring. The sequence on spring water ends here.
The author, "Hōgen Jikkai," was a monk holding the rank of Hōgen. Little else is known of his life.
First line, "sekitomuru": "that I dammed." Like "sekitomete" in 212 of this book, it dams the spring water.
Second line, "yamashitamizu ni": "yamashitamizu" is water flowing beneath the mountain, in its shade.
Third line, "migakurete": "hidden in the water."
Fourth line, "sumikeru mono o": "sumi" is a pivot word for autumn "dwelling" there and the water being "clear." "Mono o" is exclamatory, and the poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "aki no keshiki wa": "the look of autumn," inverted with the fourth line. Following the autumn wind of 207 of this book, it finds autumn within summer.
- Author
- Jikkai
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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