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Kokinshu #273
Sunday, 15 July 2012 08:27 Written on a depiction of someone approaching a hermit's dwelling through chrysanthemums.
Drenched through and dried out --
however briefly the dew
on chrysanthemums
by the mountain path may last,
for me, a thousand years passed by.
nurete hosu
yamaji no kiku no
tsuyu no ma ni
itsu ka chitose o
ware wa henikemu
---L.
Drenched through and dried out --
however briefly the dew
on chrysanthemums
by the mountain path may last,
for me, a thousand years passed by.
—2 July 2012
Original by Sosei. Based on the syntax of the headnotes, this and the next two poems seem to have been from the same contest as #272, each based on different suhama models, though they've also been interpreted as describing paintings on screens. In any event, in contrast to the spectator of the previous, this one's from the point of view of the depicted person. Wordplay: tsuyu is both the literal "dew" but also part of the idiom tsuyu no ma = "instantly" (lit. "the duration of dew"). In Chinese lore, a day in the retreat of a Taoist sage lasts a thousand years in the rest of the world, plus there's an implicit reference to the longevity imparted by drinking the dew from 'mums.nurete hosu
yamaji no kiku no
tsuyu no ma ni
itsu ka chitose o
ware wa henikemu
---L.