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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
崇徳院
瀬をはやみ
岩にせかるる
滝川の
われても末に
あはむとぞ思ふ
われてもす
ゑにあはむ
とそおもふ
せ
- Poem 77
- 瀬をはやみ
岩にせかるる
滝川の
われても末に あはむとぞ思ふ
Author: Retired Emperor Sutoku (1119–1164)
Source: Shika Wakashū, Love
- English Verse Translation
- The rock divides the stream in two, And both with might and main Go tumbling down the
waterfall; But well I know the twain Will soon unite again.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- Like the river that is split by rocks and flows apart — though we are separated now, I believe we will meet again in the end.
- Commentary
- This poem has been read in two different ways: some say it is a vow to reunite with a lover from whom the poet has been separated, while others read it as Retired Emperor Sutoku's quiet vow to one day reclaim the power he had lost. Either way, the poem conveys a tension between a passion burning deep within and a determination to remain composed.
- About the Poet
- Retired Emperor Sutoku ascended the throne at age five as the eldest son of Emperor Toba, but was resented by Retired Emperor Toba, who called him "the uncle-child" — rumored to actually be the son of his own grandfather, Retired Emperor Shirakawa. At twenty-two, Sutoku was tricked into abdicating, and his hopes that his own son would someday take the throne were dashed as well. Years of pent-up resentment eventually drove him to raise the Hōgen Rebellion, but he was defeated and exiled to Sanuki Province, where he died without ever being allowed to return to the capital.
- Retired Emperor Sutoku'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)
A stream split apart by a rock
will surely join together again downstream.Even if we're parted now,
I know we'll meet again.
- 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).