Monday, 1 July 2013

Kokinshu #414

Monday, 1 July 2013 07:07
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Written on seeing White Mountain when he traveled to Koshi.

    There's never a time
it melts completely away --
    I see now the name
of White Mountain on the road
to Koshi is from that snow.

—16 June 2013

Original by Ôshikôchi no Mitsune. Contra his claim in #383, Mitsune did indeed get to see White Mountain. Wordplay I didn't even attempt to reproduce: koshi (the region) can be read as "came" and yuki ("snow") can be read as "going." This looks to me not so much a travel poem as a diary entry -- from the journal that's not intended for later publication.


kiehatsuru
toki shi nakereba
koshiji naru
shirayama no na wa
yuki no zo arikeru


---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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