Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Kokinshu #443

Tuesday, 3 September 2013 07:00
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Miscanthus plumes (obana)

    We see that it is,
yet it's hard to rely on.
    Shall I be convinced
that this cicada-shell world
really doesn't exist?

—25 August 2013

Original author unknown. Obana is the plume or ear of the miscanthus (see #242), an all-autumn topic. I'm pleased to see someone actively wrestling with standard Buddhist doctrine. (Interestingly, searches found this one quoted on a Zen temple's website.) "Yet" is interpretive, but some sort of contrast seems needed to make sense.


ari to mite
tanomu zo kataki
utsusemi no
yo o-ba nashi to ya
omoinashitemu


---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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