Kokinshu #41

Saturday, 25 December 2010 09:55
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
[personal profile] lnhammer
Written on plum blossoms on a spring night.

    How foolish it is,
the darkness of the spring night:
    the plum flower's hue
certainly cannot be seen,
yet can its scent be hidden?

—28 October 2010

(Original by Ôshikôchi no Mitsune.) As in the previous, the flowers are grammatically unmarked but clearly are a genitive, modifying "color" instead of "scent." The editors liked these sorts of balanced pairs.


haru no yo no
yami wa ayanashi
ume no hana
iro koso miene
ka ya wa kakururu


---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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