氷ゐし志賀の唐崎うちとけて
さざ波寄する春風ぞ吹く
さざ波寄する春風ぞ吹く
- Roma-ji
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Kōri ishi Shiga no Karasaki uchitokete sazanami yosuru harukaze zo fuku
- English Translation
-
Where the ice had lain
at Karasaki in Shiga
it has melted now,
and driving ripples shoreward
the breeze of spring is blowing.
- Meaning
- At Karasaki in Shiga, where ice lay all winter, the ice has melted away, and the spring breeze blows, sending ripples rolling to the shore.
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems 1
This poem of the first day of spring opens the Shika Wakashū. The ice that held Karasaki on Lake Biwa through the winter has melted, and the spring breeze drives ripples to the shore; the coming of spring is caught within a wide, bright landscape.
It is said to draw on the seasonal idea in the Book of Rites that the east wind melts the ice, transposed onto a famous place in Ōmi. It is a dignified poem well suited to open an imperial anthology.
The first line, "where the ice had lain," recalls a past state, the "shi" being the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki." Beginning from a winter scene, the opening poem makes the turn of the season vivid.
The second line, "Karasaki in Shiga," is a famous place on the western shore of Lake Biwa, long sung as "Karasaki in Shiga of the rippling waves," and it answers the "ripples" of the fourth line.
The third line, "it has melted," answers the ice of the first line; here the shift from winter to spring is marked.
The fourth line, "driving ripples," shows the lake surface set in motion once the ice is gone. "Sazanami" recalls the pillow word "sasanami no" for Shiga, so that place and scene echo each other.
The last line, "the spring breeze blows," closes a kakari-musubi with the particle "zo" and the attributive "fuku." While the final poem, 50, ends the book regretting spring, the opening poem begins by announcing its breeze.
- Author
- Oe no Masafusa
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Next Poem
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Kinō kamo arare furishi wa Shigaraki no toyama no kasumi harumekinikeri