lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
lnhammer ([personal profile] lnhammer) wrote2010-10-16 07:42 am

Kokinshu #7

Topic unknown.

    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.