危ふさに人目ぞつねに避かれける
岩の角踏むほきの懸け道
岩の角踏むほきの懸け道
- Roma-ji
-
Ayausa ni hitome zo tsune ni yokarekeru iwa no kado fumu hoki no kakemichi
- English Translation
-
For fear of danger,
always I find myself shunning
the eyes of other men,
like treading on jutting rocks
on a ledge path on the cliff.
- Meaning
- Out of fear, I always find myself avoiding others' eyes, as if treading on the jutting rocks of a ledge path along a cliff.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 1333
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
Out of fear of discovery he always shuns others' eyes, as one treads on jutting rocks along a path built on a cliff, the poet says.
The tension of hidden love is likened to the terror of crossing a precarious path laid along a cliff. Taking up "the path of love" of the preceding poem, it shows the steepness of love's road through a concrete mountain scene.
First line, “ayausa ni”: for fear of danger.
Second line, “hitome zo tsune ni”: zo is emphatic, answered by the attributive keru.
Third line, “yokarekeru”: re is spontaneous, "I find myself avoiding"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “iwa no kado fumu”: treading on the rocks' edges.
Fifth line, “hoki no kakemichi”: hoki is a cliff, kakemichi a ledge path built along it; ending on a noun.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Omoiki ya kakaru koiji ni irisomete yoku kata mo naki nageki sen to wa
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Shirazariki mi ni amaritaru nageki shite hima naku sode o shiboru beshi to wa