夜の鶴都のうちに放たれて
子を恋ひつつも泣き明かすかな
子を恋ひつつも泣き明かすかな
- Roma-ji
-
Yoru no tsuru miyako no uchi ni hanatarete ko o koitsutsu mo nakiakasu kana
- English Translation
-
Like the crane at night
set apart within the walls
of the capital,
longing for my child, I weep
through the night until the dawn
- Meaning
- Like the crane that cries at night, left within the capital apart from my child, I weep the night through, longing for my son.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 340
The poem entrusts a mother's grief at being torn from her child to the crane that cries at night for its young. The author, the mother of Gido Sanshi (Takashina no Takako), is said to have composed it when her son, Fujiwara no Korechika, was sent into exile in the Chotoku incident, leaving her behind in the capital longing for him.
"Yoru no tsuru" (the crane at night) draws on a poem by Bai Juyi in which a crane at night cries in its cage longing for its young, and it became a figure for a parent's love for a child.
The first line, "yoru no tsuru," names the crane that cries at night for its young, a figure for a parent's love, drawing on a line by Bai Juyi.
The second line, "miyako no uchi ni" (within the capital), shows one left in the capital apart from her child.
The third line, "hanatarete," uses the passive "ru": set apart, expressing a mother left behind, separated from her child.
The fourth line, "ko o koitsutsu mo," uses the continuative "tsutsu": longing for my child all the while.
The final line, "nakiakasu kana," ends with the exclamatory "kana," overlaying the crane's crying with the mother's weeping: I weep the night through.
- Author
- Gido Sanshi no Haha
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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