大井川幾瀬鵜舟の過ぎぬらむ
ほのかになりぬ篝火の影
ほのかになりぬ篝火の影
- Roma-ji
-
Ōigawa ikuse ubune no suginuramu honoka ni narinu kagaribi no kage
- English Translation
-
On the Ōi River
through how many rapids now
have the cormorant boats passed,
growing faint upon the dark,
the gleam of the fishing fires
- Meaning
- Through how many rapids of the Ōi River have the cormorant boats passed by now? The light of their fishing fires has grown faint.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 151
The poet wonders how many rapids the cormorant-fishing boats have passed on the Ōi River, for the glow of their fires has grown faint. Through the receding firelight, the poem depicts the boats moving downstream and the deepening night.
The Ōi River flows at the foot of Arashiyama in Kyoto and was famous for cormorant fishing.
First line, 'ōigawa', is the celebrated river flowing at the foot of Arashiyama in Kyoto.
Second line, 'ikuse ubune no', means through how many rapids the cormorant boats, ubune being the boats used in cormorant fishing.
Third line, 'suginuramu', means have they passed, ramu conjecturing the cause. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'honoka ni narinu', means it has grown faint, closing with the perfective nu.
Final line, 'kagaribi no kage', ends on a noun, naming the light of the fires burned on the boats. In inversion with the fourth line, it sets last the scene that grounds the poet's guess.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kono sato mo yūdachi shikeri asajiu ni tsuyu no sugaranu kusa no ha mo nashi
- Next Poem
-
Tamakushige futagamiyama no ko no ma yori izureba akuru natsu no yo no tsuki