Kokinshu #460
Saturday, 19 October 2013 07:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer Kamiya River (Kamiyagawa)
Is my hair as black
as leopard-lily seeds
changing its color?
This white snow falling upon
the reflection in the mirror ...
ubatama no
wa ga kurokami ya
kawaruramu
kagami no kage ni
fureru shirayuki
---L.
Is my hair as black
as leopard-lily seeds
changing its color?
This white snow falling upon
the reflection in the mirror ...
—13 October 2013
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki. The Kamiya ("papermaker") is a stream flowing south through the imperial palace grounds into the Kamo. Decorative language: "of/as leopard-lily seeds" is here a stock epithet for black things, plus there's an overtone from a double-meaning of furu meaning "to age" as well as "to fall." The second half is a grammatical fragment, in effect a declarative noun, the effect of which is probably more emphatic than I've rendered it. Compare #8.ubatama no
wa ga kurokami ya
kawaruramu
kagami no kage ni
fureru shirayuki
---L.