KKS 2

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Text

春たちける日よめる

Read on the first day of spring

紀貫之

Ki no Tsurayuki

袖ひちてむすびし水の氷こほれるを春たつ今日の風や溶くらん

sode hichi-te musubi-shi mizu no koore-ru wo haru tatsu kyō no kaze ya toku-ran

The water that I once scooped, drenching my sleeves, Has frozen to ice Will the blowing wind melt it On this day, the start of spring?

Notes

This poem is a single sentence that is essentially an object-subject-verb construction. The first three lines modify the "ice" which then the "wind" will "melt".

Scoop, spring, start, spring

All four of these words have potential secondary meanings as engo with "sleeves." musubu: "weave" and "scoop", haru: "stretch [cloth]" and "spring", tatsu: "cut [cloth]" and "start [of a season]", and toku "separate" and "melt".

Other sources:

• Shinsen waka | Kokin waka rokujō
• Korai futeishō

Analysis

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