岩くぐる水にや秋のたつた川
川風涼し夏の夕暮
川風涼し夏の夕暮
- Roma-ji
-
Iwa kuguru mizu ni ya aki no tatsutagawa kawakaze suzushi natsu no yūgure
- English Translation
-
In the water slipping
under rocks, has autumn now
risen—Tatsuta River,
the river wind blowing cool
in the dusk of summer evening.
- Meaning
- Has autumn already risen in the water slipping between the rocks? The wind off the Tatsuta River blows cool in the summer dusk.
- Commentary
-
Summer Poems 168
Headnote: "River wind resembles autumn"
Feeling the cool wind off the Tatsuta River on a summer evening, the poet wonders whether autumn has already risen in the water slipping between the rocks. He expresses the topic "river wind resembles autumn" by working "autumn rises" into the name of the Tatsuta River, famed for its autumn leaves.
The pairing of "water slipping under rocks" with the Tatsuta River recalls Ariwara no Narihira's Kokin Wakashū poem on the Tatsuta waters tie-dyed in deep crimson.
Line 1 means "slipping between the rocks."
Line 2: ya is an interrogative binding particle, asking whether autumn has come to the water.
Line 3 is a pivot word, meaning both autumn "rising" (tatsu) and the Tatsuta River, a place famous for autumn leaves that evokes autumn.
Line 4, "the river wind is cool," is stated outright, and the poem pauses here.
Line 5 ends on a noun, showing it is still summer and sharpening the contrast with autumn's hint. From the next poem, 169, poems sensing autumn's approach follow, and the summer section moves toward autumn.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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