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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
権中納言定頼
朝ぼらけ
宇治の川霧
絶え絶えに
あらはれわたる
瀬々の網代木
あらはれわ
たるせせの
あしろき
あさぼらけう
- Poem 64
- 朝ぼらけ
宇治の川霧
絶え絶えに
あらはれわたる 瀬々の網代木
Author: Acting Middle Counselor Sadayori (995–1045)
Source: Senzai Wakashū, Winter
- English Verse Translation
- So thickly lies the morning mist, That I can scarcely see The fish-nets on the river bank,
The River of Uji, Past daybreak though it be.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- In the early dawn mist over the Uji River, here and there the wooden stakes of fish weirs begin to appear through the haze.
- Commentary
- According to the Senzai Wakashū's headnote, this poem was "composed on a visit to Uji." Sadayori wrote it while visiting the town of Uji. As light breaks through the mist rising off the cold river's surface, the fish-weirs glimpsed through the gaps are a familiar sight of winter on the Uji River. These "ajirogi" were wooden stakes used to hold woven bamboo traps in place for catching young sweetfish.
- About the Poet
- Acting Middle Counselor Sadayori was the son of Fujiwara no Kintō (Poem 55). Like his father, he was skilled in poetry and music, and was also known as an accomplished calligrapher. On the other hand, a famous anecdote tells of how he was left speechless after teasing Koshikibu no Naishi (Poem 60), only to be outdone by her witty reply — suggesting he also had a rash, careless side.
- Acting Middle Counselor Sadayori'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)
The scenery once hidden by the mist
slowly wakes with the morning light.A winter dawn so clear it silences words —
this view alone is enough to fill my heart.
- 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).