今日よりはたつ夏衣薄くとも
あつしとのみや思ひわたらむ
あつしとのみや思ひわたらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Kyō yori wa tatsu natsugoromo usuku tomo atsushi to nomi ya omoiwataramu
- English Translation
-
From today on—
the summer robe now cut and worn,
thin though it may be,
shall I go on feeling only
how heavy, how hot it is?
- Meaning
- From this day summer begins, and I change into a newly cut summer robe. Thin as it is, shall I still keep thinking only that it is atsushi—hot, and heavy?
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 51
This is the opening poem of the Summer book. The first line, "from today on," evokes the first day of the Fourth Month, when robes were changed for summer. With layered wordplay, the poet lightly presents a paradox: wearing a thin summer robe, one still feels it as atsushi.
Following poem 50 at the close of Book One, which mourns the passing of spring, this poem marks the turn to summer through the change of clothing. The final poem of this book, 81, speaks of dew anticipating autumn, so the book opens with a summer robe and closes with autumn dew.
First line, "From today on," sets the day the season changes as a starting point.
Second line, "the summer robe now cut," plays on tatsu, meaning both that summer "begins" and that cloth is "cut." Robe and cutting are also associated words.
Third line, "thin though it may be," is a concessive supposition, setting the robe's thinness against atsushi in the fourth line.
Fourth line hinges on atsushi, meaning both "hot" and "thick." The joke that something thin feels thick is the heart of the poem. The particle ya marks a question.
Fifth line uses wataru to express a state that continues on and on. The auxiliary mu takes the attributive form in concord with ya.
- Author
- Zōki
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Oshimu tote koyoi kakioku kotonoha ya ayanaku haru no katami narubeki
- Next Poem
-
Yuki no iro o nusumite sakeru unohana wa saete ya hito ni utagawaruramu