Kokinshu #2

[lnhammer]

Written on the first day of spring.

    The water I cupped
in my hands, drenching my sleeves,
    has long been frozen --
today, with the start of spring,
will it melt in the wind?

—6 September 2010

Original by Ki no Tsurayuki, head compiler of the Kokinshu and the sort of poet who can gracefully stuff several seasons into a small poem, along with an allusion to a line from the Chinese Book of Rites. Untranslatable wordplay: musubu ("scoop up in cupped hands") can also mean "tie together," as in fastening one's clothing, and toku ("melt") can also mean "untie," and both of which associate with "sleeve" to give interesting sexual overtones. Also: lovely, lovely sound in the original.


sode hijite
musubishi mizu no
kôreru o
haru tatsu kyô no
kaze ya tokuramu

---L.

Comments

[lnhammer]

Considering that the text of the Book of Rites we have is cobbled together out of bits and pieces, some of which includes parts of the original verse, several centuries later, it wouldn't surprise me if it and the Book of Changes each referred to the other.

---L.