風による浪のいそにはうぐひすも
春もえしらぬ花のみぞ咲く
春もえしらぬ花のみぞ咲く
- Roma-ji
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Kaze ni yoru nami no iso ni wa uguisu mo haru mo e shiranu hana nomi zo saku
- English Translation
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On the rocky shore
where the wind-driven waves break,
flowers bloom alone
that neither the warbler nor
the springtime itself has known
- Meaning
- On the shore where wind-driven waves break, there bloom only flowers that neither the warbler nor the spring itself has ever known.
- Commentary
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27 The Eighteenth Day of the First Month: Waves Seen as Snow and Blossoms
On the eighteenth day of the first month the party still remained in the same place. The sea was rough, so the boat did not set out. This anchorage was charming whether seen from far or near, but the hardship of the journey left no room for any thought. The men, it seems, recited Chinese verse to lift their spirits. Passing the time idly without sailing, people composed one poem after another on the waves.
Those who compose poems this day are "a certain person," "someone," and "the old man who was master of the boat." The last means the old man who headed the boat, and is read as referring to the former governor, the head of the party.
Following a certain person's "Isoburi no yosuru iso ni wa toshitsuki o itsu tomo wakanu yuki nomi zo furu," another person composed this poem.
Hearing these two poems and finding them fairly good, the old man who was master of the boat, to ease the hardship of many months, composed "Tatsu nami o yuki ka hana ka to fuku kaze zo yosetsutsu hito o hakaru beranaru."
The first line, "Kaze ni yoru," means "driven by the wind." The second line, "nami no iso ni wa," means "on the shore where the waves strike." The third and fourth lines, "uguisu mo haru mo e shiranu," mean "that neither the warbler, herald of spring, nor spring itself can know"; the pattern "e ... nu" expresses impossibility.
The final line, "hana nomi zo saku," closes with "only flowers bloom," answering "zo" with the attributive form "saku" in a kakari-musubi construction. The flowers here are the white, shattering waves.
Taking up the previous poem's image of waves as snow, this poem sees them as flowers. Bringing in the warbler and spring, emblems of the season, it pictures flowers of foam blooming with no connection to them at all, a poem whose charm lies in contrast.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Tosa Nikki
- Prev Poem
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Isoburi no yosuru iso ni wa toshitsuki o itsu tomo wakanu yuki nomi zo furu
- Next Poem
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Tatsu nami o yuki ka hana ka to fuku kaze zo yosetsutsu hito o hakaru beranaru