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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
僧正遍昭
天つ風
雲のかよひ路
吹きとぢよ
をとめの姿
しばしとどめむ
をとめのす
かたしはし
ととめむ
あまつ
- Poem 12
- 天つ風
雲のかよひ路
吹きとぢよ
をとめの姿 しばしとどめむ
Author: High Priest Henjō (816–890)
Source: Kokin Wakashū, Miscellaneous
- English Verse Translation
- Oh stormy winds, bring up the clouds, And paint the heavens grey; Lest these fair maids of form divine
Should angel wings display, And fly far far away.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- Heavenly wind, please close the path through the clouds! I want to keep the celestial maidens here a little longer.
- Commentary
- The Kokin Wakashū's headnote reads, "A poem composed on watching the dancers of the Gosechi Festival." Having watched the Gosechi dance, Henjō likened the dancers to heavenly maidens in this poem. In the Kokin Wakashū, the author is recorded under his lay name, Yoshimine no Munesada, showing that this poem was composed before he took holy orders.
- About the Poet
- High Priest Henjō was a grandson of Emperor Kanmu, and his lay name was Yoshimine no Munesada. He served Emperor Ninmyō as Head Chamberlain, but when the emperor died suddenly and the period of mourning came to an end, Henjō watched his colleagues celebrating the mourning's close and was struck by a deep sense of the world's impermanence, resolving to take holy orders. He went on to rise to the highest rank of Buddhist priest, "Sōjō" (Archbishop).
- High Priest Henjō's Chart of the Heart
-
A chart and a modern-language reflection of the poet's inner feelings.
The Poet's Feelings (A Personal Interpretation)
Wind, close the path the clouds travel through —
don't let the heavenly maidens go home yet.I want this dreamlike moment
to last just a little longer.
- Poem Illustration
-
This image is based on an illustration from William N. Porter's A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, his 1909 English translation of the Hyakunin Isshu published in England, colorized and reworked using Adobe Firefly (generative AI).