久方の天の河原をうち眺め
いつかと待ちし秋も来にけり
いつかと待ちし秋も来にけり
- Roma-ji
-
Hisakata no ama no kawara o uchinagame itsuka to machishi aki mo kinikeri
- English Translation
-
Gazing out across
the far and lasting heavens'
riverbanks of stars,
the autumn I waited for,
wondering when, has come at last.
- Meaning
- Gazing out over the riverbanks of the River of Heaven, I find that the autumn I awaited, wondering when it would come, has arrived at last.
- Commentary
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Autumn Poems 193
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed at the beginning of autumn"
Gazing at the riverbanks of the River of Heaven in the night sky, the poet finds that the autumn he had long awaited has come at last. The heart that waits eagerly for Tanabata, when the Herdboy and the Weaver Maid meet, is folded into the figure gazing at the heavenly riverbank.
In the source text consulted, a character in line 2 is missing, and no has been supplied from the syllable count, reading ama no kawara o.
Line 1, hisakata no, is a pillow word for "heaven."
Line 2, "the riverbanks of the River of Heaven," is the place where the Herdboy and the Weaver Maid meet. The next poem, 194, names the same riverbank, and it recurs in 199 and 201.
Line 3: uchi is a prefix, "gazing out intently."
Line 4 means "which I had awaited, wondering when," with shi the attributive of the past ki.
Line 5: mo adds "at last, the autumn I longed for." The phrase "autumn has come" from the head of the section is taken up here as "autumn too has come."
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
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Ama no gawa minawa sakamaki yuku mizu no hayaku mo aki no tachinikeru kana
- Next Poem
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Hikoboshi no yukiai o matsu hisakata no ama no kawara ni akikaze zo fuku