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English
Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
大中臣能宣朝臣
御垣守
衛士のたく火の
夜はもえ
昼は消えつつ
物をこそ思へ
ひるはきえ
つつものを
こそおもへ
みかき
- Poem 49
- 御垣守
衛士のたく火の
夜はもえ
昼は消えつつ 物をこそ思へ
Author: Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu Ason (921–991)
Source: Shika Wakashū, Love
- English Verse Translation
- My constancy to her I love I never will forsake; As surely as the Palace Guards Each night
their watch-fire make And guard it till daybreak.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- Like the fire tended by the palace guards, I burn at night and fade in the day — lost in endless longing.
- Commentary
- Mikakimori refers to the guards who watched over the gates of the imperial palace, and in this poem functions as a pillow word leading into eji (the palace watchmen). The poem likens the watch-fires burning before the gate to the flame of the poet's love, expressing his aching inability to meet his beloved during the daylight hours when the fires are put out.
- About the Poet
- Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu Ason belonged to the Nakatomi clan, sharing the same ancestry as Nakatomi no Kamatari, a family originally charged with overseeing Shinto rites. He himself served as chief priest of the Ise Grand Shrine, fulfilling duties within the Department of Divinities. Many poets came from his family line — Ise no Taifu (Poem 61) was his granddaughter. He is also known as one of the "Five Men of the Pear Jar Room," who compiled the Gosen Wakashū on the order of Emperor Murakami.
- Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu Ason'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)
At night, the feeling deep in my chest
burns red like a watch-fire.By day, unable to see you,
I pass the hours as if I might disappear.
- 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).