Kokinshu #56

[lnhammer]

Written on seeing the capital in full bloom.

    When I survey it,
the willow and cherry trees
    mingle together:
the capital is indeed
a brocade of springtime.

—17 November 2010

(Original by Sosei.) Remember the chronological jump ahead of #26? Here, we reach that part of the season. A preoccupation with willows comes from Chinese poetry, as does the imagery of a brocade of vegetation, though this particular combination is original. All in all, a lovely poem, in sound and conceit.


miwataseba
yanagi sakura o
kokimazete
miyako zo haru no
nishiki narikeru

---L.

Comments

[mme_hardy]

I love the brocade! And young willow is indeed a very beautiful color.

Would you consider sometime doing a mini-podcast of the sounds of these poems?

[lnhammer]

You mean of the original? God, my pronunciation of modern Japanese sucks,* let alone of the classical forms. But there are recordings of them available on the 'net. I can provide links.

* As in, my native-speaking neighbor has trouble understanding me, even when I get the wording right.

---L.

[mme_hardy]

I would like links very much, please.

[lnhammer]

Let me get back to you on that -- my bookmark is to some .LZH files, and I don't have the dezipper for that on this computer, to confirm they are what I remember (it's been a while).

---L.

[mme_hardy]

No rush! I just enjoy the translations so much, I'd be interested if I could try to hear the musicality.

[lnhammer]

Okay, no, those are sound files indicating the (reconstructed probable) pitch accents* to use when reciting the poems. Ditto the other set of recordings I had bookmarked.

I'm afraid finding real recordings will have to wait till I claw my way out of my deadlines at the end of the week.

*Japanese is not tonal, but does use a falling pitch instead of stress as an accent marker.

---L.

[lnhammer]

So far I've found a couple recordings, including a couple apparent podcasts? radio shows?, but nothing of the whole thing -- or more to the point, of the poems in these parts -- for free. There seems to be have been a couple NHK productions about the Kokinshu over the years, but it's not clear to me whether recordings of the poems alone were made, or where one might obtain them.

My google fu, it is weak here.

---L.

[lnhammer]

let alone of the classical forms

Which is to say, there have been sound changes, which my transcription generally ignores and renders as if it were modern Japanese.

---L.