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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
大納言経信
夕されば
門田の稲葉
おとづれて
蘆のまろやに
秋風ぞ吹く
あしのまろ
やにあきか
せそふく
ゆう
- Poem 71
- 夕されば
門田の稲葉
おとづれて
蘆のまろやに 秋風ぞ吹く
Author: Upper Counselor Tsunenobu (1016–1097)
Source: Kin'yō Wakashū, Autumn
- English Verse Translation
- This autumn night the wind blows shrill, And would that I could catch Its message, as it
whistles through The rushes in the thatch And leaves of my rice-patch.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- As evening falls, the breeze comes rustling through the rice stalks by the gate, and the autumn wind blows through the reed-thatched hut.
- Commentary
- According to the headnote in the Kin'yō Wakashū, this poem was composed "when people gathered at Lord Morokata's villa in Umezu, on the set topic of the autumn wind over a farmhouse." It was written at a poetry gathering held at the countryside villa in Umezu belonging to Tsunenobu's relative, Minamoto no Morokata. At the time, a fashion for rustic, pastoral living was in vogue, and many nobles built mountain villas in the countryside outside the capital.
- About the Poet
- Tsunenobu was a great-grandson of Prince Atsumi, a son of Emperor Uda. He excelled in Chinese poetry, waka, and music, and was renowned for his broad learning and many talents. During Retired Emperor Shirakawa's excursion on the Ōi River, courtiers competed for skill aboard three separate boats — one for waka, one for Chinese verse, and one for the biwa lute. Arriving late, Tsunenobu declared that any of the three boats would do, and went on to display his talent regardless. This versatility earned him, alongside Fujiwara no Kintō (Poem 55), the celebrated title "Genius of the Three Boats."
- Upper Counselor Tsunenobu'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 evening wind rustles through the rice leaves
and drifts on into my humble hut.The quiet hush of autumn
seeps slowly into the depths of 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).