lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
lnhammer ([personal profile] lnhammer) wrote2010-02-04 07:48 am

Hyakunin Isshu #32

    In the mountain stream
the wind has built up a weir
    like those for fishing,
and not even autumn leaves
can flow past on the current.

— 31 January 2010

Original by Harumichi no Tsuraki. The last two lines are, grammatically, a bit thorny* -- are the leaves the weir or caught in it? -- though it's easy to catch the drift, so to speak.


yamakawa ni
kaze no kaketaru
shigarami wa
nagare mo aenu
momiji narikeri



* ETA: At least, if you completely miss the point of what a cupola is, and that an attributive form means it's the leaves and not the current that cannot flow. "The weir (etc.) is leaves (that cannot flow on)." Live and learn.

---L.