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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
清原元輔
契りきな
かたみに袖を
しぼりつつ
末の松山
波こさじとは
すゑのまつ
やまなみこ
さしとは
ちぎりき
- Poem 42
- 契りきな
かたみに袖を
しぼりつつ
末の松山 波こさじとは
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke (908–990)
Source: Go Shūi Wakashū, Love
- English Verse Translation
- Our sleeves, all wet with tears, attest That you and I agree That to each other we'll be true,
Till Pine-tree Hill shall be Sunk far beneath the sea.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- We promised each other, wringing out our tear-soaked sleeves, that our love would last forever, never to be swept away like the waves beyond Suenomatsu.
- Commentary
- Mount Sue-no-Matsu is a scenic spot near the coast of present-day Tagajō City, Miyagi Prefecture. It was said that even the largest tsunami could never wash over this hill, and it had long been a beloved motif in poetry. This poem invokes Mount Sue-no-Matsu as an image of unshakable, unchanging love.
- About the Poet
- Kiyohara no Motosuke is also known as one of the compilers of the Gosen Wakashū. He was the grandson of Kiyohara no Fukayabu (Poem 36), and his daughter was Sei Shōnagon, famous as the author of The Pillow Book. Sei Shōnagon reportedly deeply respected her father's talent, once saying she would not write poetry herself for fear of tarnishing his name.
- Kiyohara no Motosuke'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)
Wringing out my tear-soaked sleeves,
I remember the promise we made.Like the pines of Sue,
this love alone will never change.
- 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).