Hyakunin Isshu #90

[lnhammer]

    Oh, to show him these!
The sleeves of fisherwomen
    of Ojima Isle,
which get soaked through and through --
even their colors don't fade.

—14-19 July 2010

Original by Attendant to Empress Inpu (or Inbu); other names or even her dates (aside from "active late 12th century") are unknown. A response to a poem by Shigeyuki (#48) in which he compared the wetness of his sleeves to those of Ojima fishers. Ojima ("male island") may be part of Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, though that's usually written with different kanji. The sex of the fisherfolk is not specified, but a comparison to herself and contrast with Male Island seems intended. The original marks the sleeves' color, rather than the sleeves themselves, as the sentence topic, but a literal rendering is awkward in English. As usual, her sleeves would be wet with crying.


misebaya na
ojima no ama no
sode dani mo
nure ni zo nureshi
iro wa kawarazu

---L.

Comments

[jonquil]

I am now imagining a special Heian laundry service, guaranteed to get those troublesome tearstains out of your fine silks. Or perhaps that's the real reason for the ten layers of kimono -- you could swap the soggy ones to a lower layer. (Yes, yes, I know about the color-shading schemes.)

[lnhammer]

Or to discretely add tear stains to your sleeves, for that properly romantic appearance when you don't have enough tears yourself. Even with using a bottle of stageprop.

---L.