日をだにもあま雲ちかく見るものを
都へと思ふ道のはるけさ
都へと思ふ道のはるけさ
- Roma-ji
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Hi o dani mo amagumo chikaku miru mono o miyako e to omou michi no harukesa
- English Translation
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Even the far sun
we can see close by the clouds
in the sky, and yet
the road to the capital
that we long for, how distant
- Meaning
- Even the sun we can see close by the clouds in the sky—yet how far away is the road to the capital we long for!
- Commentary
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36 The Twenty-Seventh Day of the First Month: The Long Road to the Capital
On the twenty-seventh day of the first month, the wind blew and the waves ran high, so the boat did not sail. Everyone lamented deeply. To console themselves the men recited Chinese verse, speaking of lines such as "Gaze at the sun, and the capital is far."
"Gaze at the sun, and the capital is far" is a line based on the story of Emperor Ming of Jin in China, who as a child was asked which was farther, the sun or the capital Chang'an, and answered that if he raised his eyes he could see the sun but not Chang'an.
Hearing the meaning of the Chinese line the men were reciting, a certain woman composed this poem.
Then a certain person went on to compose "Fuku kaze no taenu kagiri shi tachikureba namiji wa itodo harukekarikeri."
In the first line, "Hi o dani mo," "dani" is an adverbial particle meaning "even": even the sun. The second line, "amagumo chikaku," means "near the clouds of the sky," and the third, "miru mono o," continues concessively: "we can see it, and yet."
The fourth and final lines, "miyako e to omou michi no harukesa," end on a noun: how distant is the road to the capital I long to return to.
Recasting the men's Chinese line "Gaze at the sun, and the capital is far" as a Japanese poem, it laments the distance of the road home: even the far-off sun can be seen near the clouds, but the capital still cannot. Its craft lies in carrying an idea from Chinese verse into a Japanese poem from a woman's point of view.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Tosa Nikki
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Fuku kaze no taenu kagiri shi tachikureba namiji wa itodo harukekarikeri