Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.53 右大将道綱母「嘆きつつ ひとり寝る夜の 明くる間は いかに久しき ものとかは知る」

嘆きつつ ひとり寝る夜の 明くる間は いかに久しき ものとかは知る

右大将道綱母

do you know how long one night alone takes to end?

do you know how long one night alone takes to end?

キーワードKeywords

Sleepless NightAloneDo You KnowWaiting for DawnAccusation
Love

右大将道綱母Mother of Michitsuna — No. 53 女房・姫Court Lady

Author of the Kagerō Diary, which records her marriage to Fujiwara no Kaneie from the position of the one who waits.

なげきつつ ひとりぬるよの あくるまは いかにひさしき ものとかはしる

Nagekitsutsu Hitori nuru yo no Akuru ma wa Ika ni hisashiki Mono to ka wa shiru

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

A question delivered to the person who was not there: do you have any idea how long it takes for a night to end when you are lying awake alone? It is not rhetorical. She wants him to try to answer.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Ma (Duration Held Open)

The poem hands the listener the length of a night and asks them to hold it. A question that cannot be answered leaves the audience inside the experience instead of outside describing it.