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Kokinshu #415
Wednesday, 3 July 2013 07:15 Written on the road when traveling to the eastern provinces.
It isn't something
that gets twisted into thread,
yet it seems to me
that the road down which we part
is, alas!, thin-spirited.
ito ni yoru
mono naranaku ni
wakareji no
kokorobosoku mo
omooyuru ka na
---L.
It isn't something
that gets twisted into thread,
yet it seems to me
that the road down which we part
is, alas!, thin-spirited.
—20 June 2013
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki. Wordplay at the heart of this: kororobosoi, "forlorn/discouraging/hopeless," is literally "heart narrow/thin." It may not be thin as a thread, but parting makes the heart feel that way. This poem has not fared well with critics, with one famously calling it a "rubbish poem" (he literally trashed it!), and a medieval writer described it as the least esteemed of the Kokinshu. It is, certainly, a weak effort for Tsurayuki.ito ni yoru
mono naranaku ni
wakareji no
kokorobosoku mo
omooyuru ka na
---L.