lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
lnhammer ([personal profile] lnhammer) wrote2010-02-20 09:13 am

Hyakunin Isshu #27

    Water gushes forth
from Mika Plain and flows off
    as When-See River;
When did I ever See you
that such passions flow in me?

—14 February 2010

Original by Fujiwara no Kanesuke. Apparently Teika thought the pun of Izumi (name of a river near Osaka) with itsu mi ("when see") was a good one, as he picked this not just for the 100 Poems but also for the Shinkokinshu (as #996). I'm not convinced, though to be fair the two words were written identically at the time. The repeat of "flow" is my own, but a defensible way of translating (part of) the final verb.


mika no hara
wakite nagaruru
izumi-gawa
itsu miki tote ka
koishikaruran


---L.