五月雨に難波堀江の澪標
見えぬや水のまさるなるらむ
見えぬや水のまさるなるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Samidare ni Naniwa Horie no miotsukushi mienu ya mizu no masaru naruramu
- English Translation
-
In the summer rains
at Naniwa's canal
the channel markers
cannot be seen—is it
because the water's risen?
- Meaning
- In the early-summer rains the channel markers in the Naniwa canal can no longer be seen; can it be that the water has risen over them?
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 67
The poem describes the Naniwa canal, swollen by the early-summer rains, where the channel markers have vanished beneath the water. From their disappearance the poet infers that the water has risen.
Where poem 65 caught the rising water by sound, "the voices rise," this poem catches "the water rising" through markers that "cannot be seen," treating the same theme visually.
First line uses ni to show cause, giving the reason for the rising water.
Second line names the Horie canal at Naniwa in Settsu, a famous place in poetry.
Third line refers to miotsukushi, stakes set up to mark a channel for boats.
Fourth line uses the particle ya for a question, answered by ramu at the end.
Fifth line closes by conjecturing that the water has risen, sharing masaru naru with poem 65.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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