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Kokinshu #27
Thursday, 25 November 2010 09:15Written on the willows near the Great Western Temple.
Twining together
their light-green threads of branches
and stringing them through
the white dewdrops as gemstones --
the willow trees in springtime!
asa-midori
ito yorikakete
shiratsuyu o
tama ni mo nukeru
haru no yanagi ka
---L.
Twining together
their light-green threads of branches
and stringing them through
the white dewdrops as gemstones --
the willow trees in springtime!
—15 October 2010
Original by Henjô (816-890), grandson of Emperor Kanmu (and so cousin of Narihira) and father of Sosei (first seen in #6). As Yoshimine no Munesada, he was a successful courtier but on the the death of Emperor Ninmyô, his principal patron, he took orders and eventually became archbishop, as the title is usually translated. He was another of the Six Poetic Geniuses and has 17 poems in the Kokinshu. The temple stood near the Rashomon Gate in Kyoto. Again, the sweeping willow branches (which noun I added as a gloss-within-the-text) are green out of season for the sequence. Twining, stringing through, and thread are engo, or words that associate together. Unlike modern usage, the final ka is here a exclamatory particle, without any questioning aspect.asa-midori
ito yorikakete
shiratsuyu o
tama ni mo nukeru
haru no yanagi ka
---L.