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Kokinshu #427
Wednesday, 31 July 2013 06:56 Mountain cherry (kaniwazakura)
Even diving down,
fumbling around in the waves
I can't feel them out --
these gems that float up and sink
every time the wind blows.
kazukedomo
nami no naka ni wa
sagurarede
kaze fuku-goto ni
ukishizumu tama
---L.
Even diving down,
fumbling around in the waves
I can't feel them out --
these gems that float up and sink
every time the wind blows.
—7 July 2013
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki. The longest hidden-word topic so far, requiring more ingenuity to work in. What the topic is, exactly, is even more of a challenge, as kaniwazakura is an archaic name now identified with a couple different trees, the most common being a type of ornamental mountain cherry (Prunus serrulata var. kabazakura) and the Japanese bird-cherry (Prunus grayana). The former seems a more suitably elegant topic, but you should probably read an implied "?" after it. The poem itself would, I think, do a little better immediately after #424-425 (but then, #431 also uses the same conceit). That we've met worse examples of Chinese-mannered faux naivete doesn't really excuse this one.kazukedomo
nami no naka ni wa
sagurarede
kaze fuku-goto ni
ukishizumu tama
---L.