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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
参議雅経
み吉野の
山の秋風
さ夜ふけて
ふるさと寒く
衣うつなり
ふるさとさ
むくころも
うつなり
みよ
- Poem 94
- み吉野の
山の秋風
さ夜ふけて
ふるさと寒く 衣うつなり
Author: Councillor Masatsune (1170–1221)
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashū, Autumn
- English Verse Translation
- Around Mount Miyoshino's crest The autumn winds blow drear; The villagers are beating
cloth, Their merry din I hear, This night so cold and clear.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- On an autumn night, the mountain wind of Yoshino blows cold. In the old village, I can hear the sound of someone beating cloth.
- Commentary
- The headnote in the Shin Kokin Wakashū reads, "on the theme of beating cloth." "Tōi," or cloth-beating, refers to the practice of laying dampened cloth on a wooden block and striking it with a wooden mallet called a kinuta, to press creases into garments and give the fabric a soft sheen. This poem draws, as an allusive variation, on a poem by Sakanoue no Korenori: "Snow must be piling up on the mountains of Yoshino, for the cold is deepening here in the old village." The image of cloth being beaten is also said to owe something to a Chinese poem by Li Bai.
- About the Poet
- Councillor Masatsune, known formally as Fujiwara no Masatsune, was a master of kemari (kickball), and founded the Asukai school of the sport. He studied waka under Fujiwara no Shunzei (Poem 83), and was chosen as one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
- Councillor Masatsune'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)
Autumn wind blows through the mountains of Yoshino,
and the late-night village falls silent.
In the distant sound of cloth being beaten,
I feel autumn's loneliness deepen.
- 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).