なけきつゝ秋のみ空を詠れは
雲うちさはき風そはけしき
雲うちさはき風そはけしき
- Roma-ji
-
Nagekitsutsu aki no misora o nagamureba kumo uchisawagi kaze zo hageshiki
- English Translation
-
As I sigh and gaze
up at the autumn heavens,
lost in brooding thought,
the clouds are tossed in turmoil
and the wind blows wild
- Meaning
- As I gaze in sorrow at the autumn sky, the clouds churn in turmoil and the wind blows fierce.
- Commentary
-
22 The Autumn Gale
After her return from Ishiyama, at the end of the eighth month, a fierce wind rose into an autumn gale, and rain fell as well. Izumi Shikibu sat brooding, feeling more forlorn than usual. Just then a letter came from the prince as before. Because it seemed so perfectly attuned to the moment, she felt she could forgive him all his recent neglect.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
On the day the gale raged, thinking of her loneliness, the prince sent this poem.
Izumi Shikibu replied with "Akikaze wa keshiki fuku dani koishiki ni kakikumoru hi wa iu kata zo naki." The prince thought that must be so, yet as usual the days passed without a visit.
The first line means "as I grieve," with a particle of continuing action. The second and third lines mean "when I gaze at the autumn sky," with an honorific prefix on "sky" and a conditional of fact.
The lower verses mean "the clouds stir in turmoil and the wind is fierce," sealed by an emphatic construction. Describing the wild sky of the gale, he overlays the churning clouds and fierce wind with his own heart, stirred by thoughts of her. Writing on a stormy day is just like the prince, who never let the moment pass.
- Author
- Prince Atsumichi
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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