いかにして岩間も見えぬ夕暮れに
戸無瀬の筏落ちて来つらん
戸無瀬の筏落ちて来つらん
- Roma-ji
-
Ika ni shite iwama mo mienu yūgure ni Tonase no ikada ochite kitsuran
- English Translation
-
In what way, I wonder,
when even gaps between the rocks
cannot be seen at dusk,
the raft on Tonase's rapids
has come plunging down the stream?
- Meaning
- How could the raft have come plunging down the rapids of Tonase in a dusk so dark that even the gaps between the rocks cannot be seen?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems II 345
Headnote: "Composed when a hundred-poem sequence was presented"
Composed for a hundred-poem sequence. How, the poet wonders, did the raft come down the rapids of Tonase in the dusk, when it is too dark to see even the gaps between the rocks? Amazed at a raft that has come down dangerous rapids at a dusk when nothing can be made out, he imagines the skill it took.
The author, "Saki no Sangi Chikataka," is Fujiwara no Chikataka, son of Fujiwara no Tamefusa, who rose to Consultant.
The third line of the text reads "yūgure ni," which does not match "yūgiri ni" in the reading line. Here the text is followed.
First line, "ika ni shite": "in what way," asking how it was done.
Second line, "iwama mo mienu": "iwama" is the space between rocks, the channel the raft must pass, and the negative "nu" shows a darkness in which even that cannot be seen.
Third line, "yūgure ni": setting the time, the darkness giving the reason for "mienu" in the second line.
Fourth line, "Tonase no ikada": Tonase is the rapids on the upper Ōi River near Arashiyama in Yamashiro, and "ikada" is a raft of lashed timber sent down the river.
Fifth line, "ochite kitsuran": "ran" is the present conjecture "ramu," taking up "ika ni shite" in the first line, "how could it have come down?"
- Author
- Fujiwara no Chikataka
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aki fukami tasogaredoki no fujibakama niou wa nanoru kokochi koso sure
- Next Poem
-
Kesa mireba sanagara shimo o itadakite okinasabiyuku shiragiku no hana