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Kokinshu #342
Tuesday, 4 December 2012 07:17 Written and presented when he was commanded to present a poem.
For the parting year
I am filled, ah, with regret
-- for in the clear mirror,
even on my reflection
the shadows have descended.
yuku toshi no
oshiku mo aru ka na
masukagami
miru kage sae ni
kurenu to omoeba
With the new year, you are a year older -- and a year wiser. Do you:
---L.
For the parting year
I am filled, ah, with regret
-- for in the clear mirror,
even on my reflection
the shadows have descended.
—19 November 2012
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki. Were it up to me, I'd probably end the season with #341 instead of this. However, some commentaries note that the context of an imperial command transitions us into Book VII's coronation and birthday felicitations -- thus pointing up that the Kokinshu was intended to be read as a whole. Though of course that one's age count went up on New Years, making it everyone's birthday, already points toward that topic. Wordplay lost in translation: kurenu means "has ended" for the year and "has darkened" for the reflection (which is also itself a "shadow").yuku toshi no
oshiku mo aru ka na
masukagami
miru kage sae ni
kurenu to omoeba
With the new year, you are a year older -- and a year wiser. Do you:
- Return again to the start of the year? -- turn to p.1.
- Keep going and wish someone else a happy birthday? -- continue on with p.343 (coming up).
---L.