Kokinshu #418

When Prince Koretaka went hunting with some friends, they came to the bank of a place called Amanogawa, whereupon they drank sake. When the prince said, "Offer me up a cup while reciting a poem in the spirit of arriving at the beach of the River of Heaven (ama-no-gawa) while hunting," [Narihira] recited:

    I've hunted till dark:
let's hunt after lodgings from
    the Weaver Maiden --
for I've arrived at the beach
of the River of Heaven.

—20-27 June 2013

Original by Ariwara no Narihira. Textual issue: my base text has tanabatazume, which makes no sense -- the actual name is tanabata-tsu-me (spelled correctly in #175), "Tanabata Woman," where the tsu is a genitive marker; I've removed two dots to so emend it. For Koretaka, see #74. According to Tales of Ise, this and the next poem are from the same outing as #53, and again show Narihira playing the amusing courtier. Amanogawa, now written "heaven-field river," is a small tributary of the Yodo running through modern Hirakata City, about halfway between Kyoto and modern Osaka.


karikurashi
tanabatatsume ni
yado karamu
ama no kawara ni
ware wa kinikeri

---L.