Kokinshu #171

[lnhammer]

Topic unknown.

    An inside lining --
the fluttering of the hem
    of my husband's robe!
How enticing they are,
the first breezes of autumn.

—5 November 2011

Original author unknown. Pivot-word: ura = "reverse"/"lining" / uramezurashiki = "enticing"/"creating curiosity" -- I displaced the lining to the start for the rhythm and to bring out more clearly the "reasoning technique" of deducing cause from observed effect, even though this imposes a progression not fully present in the original. The man is not necessarily married to the speaker, but the alternative of "darling" isn't strongly gendered enough. Compare to #25, which may be riffing on this.


waga seko ga
koromo no suso o
fuki-kaeshi
uramezurashiki
aki no hatsukaze

---L.

Comments

[movingfinger]

Suggest "boy-toy"?

[lnhammer]

The term seems to suggest a different power dynamic, alas. (What with the Japanese language coding for social hierarchies.)

---L.