Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Kokinshu #101

Tuesday, 21 June 2011 07:12
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
A poem from the poetry contest held in the palace of the consort in the Kanpyô era.

    Blooming flowers are,
even in their variety,
    only transient,
and yet who among us can
hold a grudge against springtime?

—15 June 2011

Original by Fujiwara no Okikaze, whose dates are unknown but he appears in court records during the first two decades of the 900s. He was better known as a musician than poet, and has 17 poems in the Kokinshu. The slightly clumsy translation reflects the effect of having both "although" and "but" clauses. Also, apparently the rule that a question word like "who" cannot be a topic was also not yet settled.


saku hana wa
chigusa nagara ni
ada naredo
tare ka wa haru o
urami-hatetaru


---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.

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