Kokinshu #7

Saturday, 16 October 2010 07:42
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
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    It must be desire
has so deeply dyed my heart,
    that when I pluck it
the snow that hasn't vanished
appears to be spring flowers.

—12 September 2010

Original author unknown. Orthographic ambiguity: (w)oru could be either "to pluck" or an archaic verb of existence. My base text from the Japanese Text Initiative uses kanji meaning the former, but some textual traditions use kana, so that scholars endlessly debate the correct interpretation.


kokorozashi
fukaku somete shi
orikereba
kieaenu yuki no
hana to miyuramu


---L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

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