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Hyakunin Isshu #6
Sunday, 20 June 2010 09:47 I know when I see
the whiteness of the frost
lying on the bridge
of outstretched magpie wings
that night has indeed grown late.
kasasagi no
wataseru hashi ni
oku shimo no
shiroki o mireba
yo zo fukenikeru
---L.
the whiteness of the frost
lying on the bridge
of outstretched magpie wings
that night has indeed grown late.
—10 June 2010
Original by Ôtomo no Yakamochi, the main compiler of the Man'yoshu. The Magpie Bridge was a stairway or passage in the imperial palace (though only in Heian Kyô, not Nara, which is one sign this was actually written well after Yakamochi's death), but it's worded to also be a complimentary reference to the Tanabata legend (if a, ah, stretched one, given there's very little frost at the start of autumn). It's possible to also read this as a elliptical reference to having an affair with a member of the imperial family. "Wings" is my interpolation, but what else would be outstretched?kasasagi no
wataseru hashi ni
oku shimo no
shiroki o mireba
yo zo fukenikeru
---L.