Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.76 法性寺入道前関白太政大臣(藤原忠通)「わたの原 漕ぎ出でて見れば 久方の 雲居にまがふ 沖つ白波」

わたの原 漕ぎ出でて見れば 久方の 雲居にまがふ 沖つ白波

法性寺入道前関白太政大臣(藤原忠通)

out here the white waves and the clouds have traded places

out here the white waves and the clouds have traded places

キーワードKeywords

Open SeaWhite CapsCloud LineLost HorizonVertigo
★★ Miscellaneous

法性寺入道前関白太政大臣(藤原忠通)Fujiwara no Tadamichi — No. 76 公卿Court Noble

A chancellor at the height of the court and a calligrapher regarded as founder of the Hosshō-ji school.

わたのはら こぎいでてみれば ひさかたの くもゐにまがふ おきつしらなみ

Wata no hara Kogi-idete mireba Hisakata no Kumoi ni magau Oki tsu shiranami

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

Miles out, the shoreline gone. He looks toward the horizon and cannot find it: the white of the far breakers and the white of the cloud bank have become one continuous band. For a moment the sea is above and the sky is below, and there is no instrument on board to settle it.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Yohaku (Deliberate Void)

The poem removes the horizon — the one line that tells you which way is up — and lets the composition float. Take away your listener’s reference point (no downbeat, no ground, no scale) and awe arrives before comprehension does.