かたみにや上毛の霜を払ふらむ
友寝の鴛鴦の諸声に鳴く
友寝の鴛鴦の諸声に鳴く
- Roma-ji
-
Katami ni ya uwage no shimo o harau ramu tomone no oshi no morogoe ni naku
- English Translation
-
Each for the other,
do they brush away the frost
upon their feathers?
The mandarin ducks that sleep as one
cry out in a single voice
- Meaning
- Are they brushing the frost from each other's feathers? The mandarin ducks sleeping together cry out with one voice.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Winter Poems 429
Headnote: "Composed on waterfowl"
Composed on the topic of waterfowl. Are they brushing the frost from each other's feathers, the poet asks, as the mandarin ducks sleeping together cry out with one voice? He depicts the mandarin ducks, emblem of a loving couple, nestled together and crying on a frosty night, as if tending to one another.
The author, "Minamoto no Chikafusa," was a poet of the cloistered-rule period, but little is known of his life.
The nine poems from 429 to 437 are poems on waterfowl. Mandarin ducks, wild ducks and other waterfowl were counted among the sights of the winter waterside.
First line, "katami ni ya": "katami ni" means "each to the other," and the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "ramu" in the second line.
Second line, "uwage no shimo o": "uwage" are the outer feathers covering a bird's body. 432 of this book also sings of "uwage no shimo."
Third line, "harau ramu": the present conjecture "ramu," "are they brushing off the frost?" The poem pauses here. 436 of this book sings of mandarin ducks unable to brush it off, "haraikanete ya."
Fourth line, "tomone no oshi no": "tomone" is sleeping together, and "oshi" is the mandarin duck, said to keep always with its mate.
Fifth line, "morogoe ni naku": "morogoe" is crying together in one voice.
- Author
- Minamoto no Chikafusa
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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