Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.88 皇嘉門院別当「難波江の 蘆のかりねの 一夜ゆゑ 身をつくしてや 恋ひわたるべき」

難波江の 蘆のかりねの 一夜ゆゑ 身をつくしてや 恋ひわたるべき

皇嘉門院別当

one night on cut reeds — and a whole life standing in the tide

one night on cut reeds — and a whole life standing in the tide

キーワードKeywords

One NightCut ReedsChannel MarkerWhole LifeDisproportion
Love

皇嘉門院別当Kōkamon-in no Bettō — No. 88 女房・姫Court Lady

A lady-in-waiting to Kōkamon-in, who weighed one night against a whole life.

なにはえの あしのかりねの ひとよゆゑ みをつくしてや こひわたるべき

Naniwae no Ashi no karine no Hitoyo yue Mi o tsukushite ya Koi wataru beki

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

Cut reeds at the river mouth, one night’s makeshift sleep, nothing built to last. And for that — for one night — she is apparently expected to spend the rest of her life like a channel marker planted in the mud.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Kakekotoba (Layered Word)

Two puns compress a scene, a duration and a cost into thirty-one syllables. Density like this is not decoration — it is how a short form holds a long argument.