Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.42 清原元輔「契りきな かたみに袖を しぼりつつ 末の松山 波越さじとは」

契りきな かたみに袖を しぼりつつ 末の松山 波越さじとは

清原元輔

we swore the waves would never cross — wring out the sleeve again

we swore the waves would never cross — wring out the sleeve again

キーワードKeywords

Broken PromiseWringing SleevesImpossible WaveSue no MatsuyamaBetrayal
Love

清原元輔Kiyohara no Motosuke — No. 42 官人Official

Father of Sei Shōnagon and one of the five scholars of the Pear Chamber who compiled the Gosenshū.

ちぎりきな かたみにそでを しぼりつつ すゑのまつやま なみこさじとは

Chigiriki na Katami ni sode o Shiboritsutsu Sue no Matsuyama Nami kosaji to wa

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

They both wept and wrung out their sleeves and swore it, using the standard image for impossibility: waves will never cross the pines of Sue no Matsuyama. The poem does not say what happened. The past tense says it.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Honkadori (Building on an Origin Song)

The poem borrows a fixed image of impossibility from earlier verse and lets the audience notice it has failed. Quoting a shared reference and breaking it is far sharper than describing the break.