Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.3 柿本人麻呂「あしびきの 山鳥の尾の しだり尾の ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む」

あしびきの 山鳥の尾の しだり尾の ながながし夜を ひとりかも寝む

柿本人麻呂

the pheasant’s tail hangs long — so does this night, and I am one

the pheasant’s tail hangs long — so does this night, and I am one

キーワードKeywords

Long NightPheasant TailSleeping AloneDurationDrooping Line
Love

柿本人麻呂Kakinomoto no Hitomaro — No. 3 官人Official

The great court poet of the Man’yōshū, later revered as a saint of poetry and unmatched in the architecture of his long poems.

あしびきの やまどりのをの しだりをの ながながしよを ひとりかもねむ

Ashibiki no Yamadori no o no Shidari o no Naganagashi yo o Hitori kamo nemu

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

A mountain pheasant’s tail hangs down, one unbroken line trailing into the dark. That is the shape of the night ahead of him — not a number of hours but a length, cold and drooping, that he will lie beside until morning.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Jokotoba (Preface Image)

A waka often opens with an image that is not a metaphor but a measuring stick: the tail’s length becomes the night’s length. Give the listener a physical object to feel duration with and time stops being abstract.