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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
権中納言定家
来ぬ人を
松帆の浦の
夕なぎに
焼くやもしほの
身もこがれつつ
やくやもし
ほのみもこ
かれつつ
こぬ
- Poem 97
- 来ぬ人を
松帆の浦の
夕なぎに
焼くやもしほの 身もこがれつつ
Author: Acting Middle Counselor Sadaie (1162–1241)
Source: Shin Chokusen Wakashū, Love
- English Verse Translation
- Upon the shore of Matsu-hō For thee I pine and sigh; Though calm and cool the evening air,
These salt-pans caked and dry Are not more parched than I!
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- Waiting for someone who will not come, at the quiet evening shore — like salt burned from the seaweed, I too am consumed by longing.
- Commentary
- This poem is an allusive variation on a long poem (chōka) from the Man'yōshū. In the original poem, a man living in Akashi falls in love, across the sea, with a young fisherwoman at Matsuho Bay on Awaji Island. Teika's version, however, reverses the perspective — describing instead the young woman at Matsuho Bay, burning with longing as she waits for her lover.
- About the Poet
- The Acting Middle Counselor Sadaie was better known by his given name, Fujiwara no Teika, the great poet-scholar who compiled the Hyakunin Isshu and was entrusted with compiling the Shin Kokin Wakashū. Teika was also a scholar of classical literature, hand-copying Heian-period works such as The Tale of Genji, The Sarashina Diary, and The Tales of Ise, and leaving behind Kenchū Mikkan, his commentary on the Kokin Wakashū. Thanks to his efforts, many works of classical literature survive to this day.
- Acting Middle Counselor Sadaie'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)
I stand on a quiet shore,
simply waiting for someone who will not come.
My burning heart dissolves into the sea wind,
and still, I go on longing for you.
- 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).