Kokinshu #314
Tuesday, 9 October 2012 07:34![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer Topic unknown.
Tatsuta River
weaves a brocade of bright leaves
spread over itself
-- using as its warp and weft
the Godless Month's winter rains.
tatsutagawa
nishiki orikaku
kannazuki
shigure no ame o
tatenuki ni shite
---L.
Tatsuta River
weaves a brocade of bright leaves
spread over itself
-- using as its warp and weft
the Godless Month's winter rains.
—22 November 2009, rev 1 June, 15-17 September 2012.
Original author unknown. Previously posted in a rather different version when I had just started learning classical Japanese and got a lot wrong, including not only the verbs but just how many grammatical roles are possible for the unmarked river and month -- and more importantly, which are more likely. On to book VI and poems of winter -- which like summer gets a much shorter treatment than spring or autumn, focused on a single overriding image: snow. Not that you can tell from this poem: there's a few introductions to make first. And some old friends by way of continuity -- speaking of whom, "bright leaves" is one of those omitted-but-understood words. For the Godless Month, the first month of winter, see #253, and for the Tatsuta, see #283. Compare also #291.tatsutagawa
nishiki orikaku
kannazuki
shigure no ame o
tatenuki ni shite
---L.