Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.27 中納言兼輔(藤原兼輔)「みかの原 わきて流るる 泉川 いつ見きとてか 恋しかるらむ」

みかの原 わきて流るる 泉川 いつ見きとてか 恋しかるらむ

中納言兼輔(藤原兼輔)

when did I ever see you? — the spring rises anyway

when did I ever see you? — the spring rises anyway

キーワードKeywords

Spring WaterNever MetLonging Without CauseRiver ForkWordplay
Love

中納言兼輔(藤原兼輔)Fujiwara no Kanesuke — No. 27 公卿Court Noble

A middle councillor, great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu, and an accomplished lute player.

みかのはら わきてながるる いづみがは いつみきとてか こひしかるらむ

Mika no hara Wakite nagaruru Izumigawa Itsu mi ki to te ka Koishikaruran

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

Spring water breaks out of flat ground and becomes a river with no visible source upstream. He cannot remember ever seeing her, and the feeling is here anyway, arriving from somewhere below.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Yūgen (Graceful Mystery)

Causeless emotion is given a hydrological explanation: it welled up. Not every feeling in a work needs an origin story — sometimes the correct answer is a spring with no upstream.