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Kokinshu #30
Wednesday, 1 December 2010 07:02 Written on hearing the wild geese call and thinking of someone departed for Koshi.
With spring's arrival
it seems the wild geese go home --
if only I could
use them to send messages
on their route through the white clouds.
haru kureba
kari kaerunari
shirakumo no
michiyukiburi ni
koto ya tsutemashi
---L.
With spring's arrival
it seems the wild geese go home --
if only I could
use them to send messages
on their route through the white clouds.
—17 October 2010
Original by Ôshikôchi no Mitsune, who also flourished from the 890s to around 920. He is the other compiler of the Kokinshu, which has 60 of his poems. A solid return to early spring, as geese that winter in Japan begin migrating ("return (home)") to their north-Asia breeding grounds; their coming south is an autumnal sign (as on this icon). Koshi was one of many names for the northern provinces of Honshu. My version completely fails to convey the original's soundplay, especially the piled k and r syllables of the first two lines, and the polysyllabic pileups of the last three. (Edited with revision to l.4)haru kureba
kari kaerunari
shirakumo no
michiyukiburi ni
koto ya tsutemashi
---L.