谷川の淀みにむすぶ氷こそ
見る人もなき鏡なりけれ
見る人もなき鏡なりけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Tanigawa no yodomi ni musubu kōri koso miru hito mo naki kagami narikere
- English Translation
-
In the valley stream
where the waters lie still, the ice
that has formed is truly
a mirror no one ever
comes to look upon
- Meaning
- The ice formed in the still pools of the valley stream is truly a mirror that no one comes to look into.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Winter Poems 272
The ice formed in the still pools of a remote valley stream is likened to a mirror that no one ever looks into. The beauty of the clear, smooth ice overlaps with the loneliness of the mountains where no one sees it.
Following the thin ice among the reeds known by sound in the preceding poem, 271, this poem sees the ice of the valley stream as a mirror. Poem 289 in this book, on the image in the mirror seen every morning, contrasts with this mirror that no one sees.
From poem 271 through poem 275 in this book come poems on ice.
First line, 'tanigawa no', is a stream flowing through a valley, marking a place far from villages.
Second line, 'yodomi ni musubu', means forming in the still pools, musubu meaning ice forming. 'Binding ice' (musubu kōri) is also sung in poem 296 in this book.
Third line, 'kōri koso', means the ice, truly, koso binding with the realis kere in the final line.
Fourth line, 'miru hito mo naki', means that no one looks upon, showing the loneliness of the mountains.
Final line, 'kagami narikere', means it was a mirror, likening the ice to one and closing with the exclamatory keri.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Takasebune sao no oto ni zo shirarekeru ashima no kōri hitoe shinikeri
- Next Poem
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Shinagadori ina no fushihara kaze saete koya no ikemizu kōri shinikeri