![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Kokinshu #124
Friday, 12 August 2011 07:11 Written on kerria blooming on the bank of Yoshino River.
In the deep waters
even reflections scatter
in the blowing wind:
the kerria on the banks
of Yoshino River.
yoshinogawa
kishi no yamabuki
fuku kaze ni
soko no kage sae
utsuroinikeri
---L.
In the deep waters
even reflections scatter
in the blowing wind:
the kerria on the banks
of Yoshino River.
—26 July, 12 August 2011.
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki. The point being, I think, that the flowers' reflection broken up by a breeze ruffling the water looks a lot like petals blown off by the wind -- which is a little hard to bring out in translation. It can also be read as saying that the bright flowers make their shadows on the river bottom seem pale in comparison, but that isn't as striking an image. An even easier reading is that the flower petals' reflections are, like the real ones, getting blown off by the wind, but that's an awfully slight conceit for Tsurayuki. Compare and/or contrast with #44, which is a lot less ambiguous.yoshinogawa
kishi no yamabuki
fuku kaze ni
soko no kage sae
utsuroinikeri
---L.