追風の吹きぬる時はゆくふねの
帆手てうちてこそうれしかりけれ
帆手てうちてこそうれしかりけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Oikaze no fukinuru toki wa yuku fune no hote uchite koso ureshikarikere
- English Translation
-
When the following
wind has blown upon us now,
our boat's sails clap out,
and we too clap hands for joy—
how happy we are at last
- Meaning
- When the following wind blows, the sails of our boat snap taut, and we clap our hands—oh, how glad we are!
- Commentary
-
35 The Twenty-Sixth Day of the First Month: An Offering and a Following Wind
On the twenty-sixth day of the first month, there was a rumor—whether true or not—that pirates were pursuing them, so the party set out around midnight and rowed on. Along the way was a place for making offerings to the gods. When the steersman was made to present the paper offerings, they scattered toward the east, and the steersman made his offering with the prayer, "Let our boat be rowed swiftly in the direction these offerings scatter."
Those who compose poems this day are a young girl attending the party and a person called "the old woman of Awaji." "Tōme" means an old woman, here one from Awaji. This old woman composes a poem again on the sixth day of the second month, while seasick.
When the wind turned favorable and everyone longing for the capital rejoiced at the sound of the steersman proudly raising the sail, the old woman of Awaji composed this poem.
After the poem, the diary notes that they prayed about the weather. On the sixth day of the second month, the old woman of Awaji, though seasick, will compose "Itsushika to ibusekaritsuru naniwagata ashi kogisokete mifune kinikeri," to everyone's surprise.
The first line, "Oikaze no," means "the following wind that pushes the boat from behind." In the second line, "fukinuru toki wa," "nuru" is the attributive form of the perfective auxiliary "nu." The third line, "yuku fune no," continues "of the boat moving on."
The fourth line, "hote uchite koso," plays on "hote," the ropes of the sail, and "te uchi," clapping hands for joy. "Koso" is an emphatic particle, and in the final line, "ureshikarikere," "kere" is the realis form of the exclamatory auxiliary "keri," completing the kakari-musubi construction.
Through a pivot word, the poem fuses the sails filling with a following wind and the people clapping their hands for joy. Answering the young girl's wish for a following wind in "Watatsumi no chiburi no kami ni tamukesuru nusa no oikaze yamazu fukanamu," it sings the joy of that wish fulfilled.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Tosa Nikki
- Prev Poem
-
Watatsumi no chiburi no kami ni tamukesuru nusa no oikaze yamazu fukanamu
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Hi o dani mo amagumo chikaku miru mono o miyako e to omou michi no harukesa