Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 25 (Fujiwara no Sadakata)
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 25
na ni shi owaba
Osakayama no
sanekazura
hito ni shirarede
kuru yoshi mo gana
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If its name is true,
"come sleep vine" of "Meeting Slope Hill,"
isn't there some way
without anyone knowingthat it can reel me in to you"
Fujiwara no Sadakata (873?932)
"Osakayama" does not refer to Osaka, but points again at the "Ausaka" or "Meeting Slope" on the highway between present-day Kyoto and Otsu, which also figures prominently in poem 10.
[Marker of "Meeting Slope"]
Sanekazura is a specific Japanese plant, "Kadsura Japonica." It has deep green, glossy leaves and is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens. Extract from this plant is also used for traditional Japanese washi paper making. In our poem only its rope-like quality is alluded to, its ability to "pull" the poet towards his beloved. There is however a second sly allusion here: the name of the plant starts with the elements "sa ne" which can also mean "come, sleep!," so this becomes a rather open declaration of the poet's intention.
"Kuru" in the last line means "to come," but is a homonym with another kuru which means "to reel in."
There is a head-note attached to the poem which reads "Sent to a woman's house." It was usual to attach poems sent to others to some object, as a flower, and in this case the poem was probably at...
Fuente de la noticia:
japannavigator
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