Washed Away: Poem Number 32

Weir at the Thorp Gristmill in Thorp, WA. A. Balet, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
山川に	Yama gawa ni	Ah, the weir
風のかけたる	Kaze no kaketaru	that the wind has flung
しがらみは	Shigarami wa	across the mountain stream
流れもあへぬ	Nagaremo aenu	is the autumn foliage that cannot flow on,
紅葉なりけり	Momoji narikeri	even though it would.

Translation by Dr Joshua Mostow

Harumichi no Tsuraki (d. 920) was a relatively unknown member of the Court who graduated from the Imperial university in 910 and had only a few poems published in the official anthologies. So, it’s somewhat unusual to see such a poem like this one in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology, but as Mostow points out, commentators in the past heavily praised the line “the weir that the wind has flung” (kaze no kaketaru shigarami wa). Fujiwara no Teika, the composer of the Hyakunin Isshu, must have been similarly impressed. A weir, by the way, is a barrier over a river or stream (I had to look it up 😉 ).

Anyhow, nice to see someone get their moment in the sun (let alone poetic history). 🙂

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