Hyakunin Isshu #89 (draft)
Friday, 30 July 2010 07:47![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer O thread of [jewels],
if you must break, break now!
If I continue,
my endurance for longing
in secret will surely weaken.
I'm kinda stuck on this one. A plethora of double-meanings (tama is a round object, which when on a thread is usually a bead or gem such as a pearl, but also possibly a tear, plus a homophone for "soul"; taeru is "to cease/break" and "to die off"; and nagaru is "to live long" and "to flow") make it possible to read the first three lines as both "O string of gems, if you will break, break now -- if I live on" and "O thread of tears, if you will cease, cease now -- if you flow on" -- both readings containing conventional symbolism for her life itself breaking/ceasing. I've found English equivalent double-meanings for all but that first noun, the keystone substantive that supports the two images. (The pivot word shinobu = "to long for (secretly)" / "to endure/hide" is, by comparison, easy to double-render.) Any suggestions?
tama no o yo
taenaba taene
nagaraeba
shinoburu koto no
yowari mo zo suru
---L.
if you must break, break now!
If I continue,
my endurance for longing
in secret will surely weaken.
(25 Jul '10)
Original by Princess Shokushi or Shikishi, a daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, granddaughter of Tadamichi (#76), aunt of Go-Toba (#99), and great-aunt and adoptive (or possibly foster) mother of Juntoko (#100).I'm kinda stuck on this one. A plethora of double-meanings (tama is a round object, which when on a thread is usually a bead or gem such as a pearl, but also possibly a tear, plus a homophone for "soul"; taeru is "to cease/break" and "to die off"; and nagaru is "to live long" and "to flow") make it possible to read the first three lines as both "O string of gems, if you will break, break now -- if I live on" and "O thread of tears, if you will cease, cease now -- if you flow on" -- both readings containing conventional symbolism for her life itself breaking/ceasing. I've found English equivalent double-meanings for all but that first noun, the keystone substantive that supports the two images. (The pivot word shinobu = "to long for (secretly)" / "to endure/hide" is, by comparison, easy to double-render.) Any suggestions?
tama no o yo
taenaba taene
nagaraeba
shinoburu koto no
yowari mo zo suru
---L.