Friday, 12 March 2010

lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
    On the contrary,
were we to never again
    meet each other,
then I would no longer feel
bitter about her -- or myself.

—6 March 2010

Original by Fujiwara no Asatada, son of Sadataka (#25). Urami is another broad-spectrum emotion word, meaning anywhere in the range regret/resent/blame/grudge/bitterness/malice/hatred. What's resented is not specified -- the traditional interpretation is the other person's coldness and his own pain, but it reads to me as he blames his own behavior as much as hers.


au koto no
taete shi nakuba
nakanaka ni
hito o mo mi o mo
uramizaramashi


---L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

April 2025

S M T W T F S
  12345
678910 1112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930   

Page Summary

Style Credit

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios
Page generated Thursday, 17 July 2025 09:01

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags