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Kokinshu #173
Sunday, 4 December 2011 08:38 (Topic unknown.)
Ever since the day
autumn winds began blowing,
there's been not one day
I haven't stood on the bank
of Heaven's Endless River.
akikaze no
fukinishi hi yori
hisakata no
ama no kawara ni
tatanu hi wa nashi
---L.
Ever since the day
autumn winds began blowing,
there's been not one day
I haven't stood on the bank
of Heaven's Endless River.
—5-6 November 2011
(Original author unknown.) The first of a series of 11 poems about Tanabata, a festival imported from China celebrating the one day a year the Oxherd (the star Altair) is allowed a conjugal visit with the Weaver Maid (Vega), separated from him by the River of Heaven (the Milky Way). At the time, the seventh day of the Seventh Month fell some time in August, and so was more naturally thought of as an early autumn event than the modern July 7th observance. This could be spoken by either party of the story, but given the Weaver Maid waits to be visited this is often heard as her voice. What doesn't come through in translation: the blowing is inflected as a personal experience. Compare the location and anticipation with #170.akikaze no
fukinishi hi yori
hisakata no
ama no kawara ni
tatanu hi wa nashi
---L.