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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
喜撰法師
わが庵は
都の辰巳
しかぞすむ
世をうぢ山と
人はいふなり
よをうちや
まとひとは
いふなり
わがい
- Poem 8
- わが庵は
都の辰巳
しかぞすむ
世をうぢ山と 人はいふなり
Author: Priest Kisen (dates unknown)
Source: Kokin Wakashū, Miscellaneous
- English Verse Translation
- My home is near the Capital, My humble cottage bare Lies south-east on Mount Uji; so
The people all declare My life's a 'Hill of Care'.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- My home is in the southeast of the capital, and I live here at peace. People say I moved to Mount Uji because I found the world hard to bear — but that is only what others say.
- Commentary
- Priest Kisen lived on Mount Uji, southeast of the Heian capital (present-day Mount Kisen in Uji City). The "Mountain of Gloom" (ushiyama) in his poem is a pun on "Mount Uji" (Ujiyama). Though people apparently mocked him for living on this so-called "Mountain of Gloom," Kisen himself lived quietly and contentedly in that peaceful place, following his own heart.
- About the Poet
- Priest Kisen was named one of the Six Poetic Sages (Rokkasen), yet only two of his poems survive to this day — this one, and a single verse preserved in the Man'yōshū. Almost nothing is recorded of his life or background, raising the possibility that he was passed down less as a historical figure than as a literary symbol.
- Priest Kisen'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)
They say I live deep in the mountains
because I'm weary of the world —
but I'm only living quietly, that's all.Call this 'Mount of Sorrow' if you like —
I'm just the same as ever.
- 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).