Fujiwara Takaiko’s “The bush warbler’s frozen tears” (Kokinshu #4)

Translation
Nijou consort’s “beginning of spring”
poem
Spring begins
In the midst of
snow:
Perhaps now, at
last,
The bush
warbler’s
Frozen tears will
melt.

Commentary
Fujiwara Takaiko was the Consort of
Emperor Seiwa. After an affair with the priest Zenyuu she was demoted, but
after death, her title of Consort was restored. The poem paints a picture of
the beginning of spring while the trees are still covered in snow. It
poetically views this snow as the tears of the bush warblers, which fly away
during the winter and return during the warmer weather, hence their “frozen
tears” melting.
Japanese
Pronunciation
二条のきさき
Nijou no Kisaki
雪の内に
Yuki no uchi ni
春はきにけり
Haru wa kinikeri
うぐひすの
Uguisu no
こほれる涙
Kooreru namida
今やとくらむ
Ima ya toku ran
Translation Notes
Snow ’s midst/inside/within
in/at
Spring begins
Cuckoo/bush-warbler/Japanese-nightingale
’s
Frozen/congealed
tears
Now/now-at-last
 melt/dissolve/untie/untangle/hide/virtue
suppose/perhaps

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