Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.17 在原業平朝臣「ちはやぶる 神代も聞かず 竜田川 からくれなゐに 水くくるとは」

ちはやぶる 神代も聞かず 竜田川 からくれなゐに 水くくるとは

在原業平朝臣

even the gods never saw the river dyed this red

even the gods never saw the river dyed this red

キーワードKeywords

CrimsonTie-dyeRiverAge of GodsSaturation
Nature/Seasons Autumn

在原業平朝臣Ariwara no Narihira — No. 17 公卿Court Noble

One of the six poetic geniuses and the presumed hero of the Tales of Ise, a grandson of Emperor Heizei.

ちはやぶる かみよもきかず たつたがは からくれなゐに みづくくるとは

Chihayaburu Kamiyo mo kikazu Tatsutagawa Kara-kurenai ni Mizu kuguru to wa

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

Macro, then wide. The river surface has disappeared under packed maple leaves — not scattered, but bound, as if someone tied and dipped the entire current in deep Chinese crimson. The narrator swears even the gods never shot this.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Mitate (Nature as Craft)

Describing a river as a dye-vat borrows the precision of a craft to rate a natural event. When you name your process — dyeing, welding, folding — the listener gets a physical scale for an abstract intensity. Steal vocabulary from other trades.