Poem ( Haiku ? ) translation

[Bob M.]

Hi Everyone,

 

I would be most grateful for a translation of the attached poem , inscribed on a tsuba by Norichika.

 

Many Thanks !

 

[SteveM]

Beautiful, but quite difficult to decipher. Hopefully someone with a high level of calligraphic/sōsho/grass script reading skills can take a lookl

[Bob M.]

Steve ,

 

Thanks for looking at this I realise that it is not straight forward at all .

 

The other side of the tsuba has one mount fuji and two pine trees, which together with the three eggplant form a set of auspicious characters to dream about ( especially first dream of the new year ).

 

We can possibly see something about Mt Fuji in the sunlight ( __ Kawa__Ya__Fuji Toki Taru Hino Hikari )

 

This info. courtesy George Miller.

 

Regards

[Bugyotsuji]

The dream sequence is 一富士二鷹三茄子 Ichi Fuji, ni taka, san nasu, so  aside from the pines, there should be a hawk or two on the other side, no?

[Bob M.]

Hi Piers ,

 

The tsuba is a bit of a conundrum in that it only shows the two pine trees and Mt Fuji - unless the hawks are hiding in the branches . 

 

Is it possible that the hawks are actually there , but represented by a sort of wordplay ? Maybe if we can find the exact meaning of the poem , it will help unlock the riddle.

 

I am also told that the words ' Nasu' and ' Hino Hikari ' are nicknames for the Nikko area of Japan , so there is maybe some connection ?

 

Thanks for your interest !

 

Regards

 

[kissakai]

Mine took 4 years to translate so keep at it.

A lot of help from the NMB members who supplied small pieces at a time and finally completed by Marcus S

 

[k morita]

Hi,
Yes, it's Haiku poem.

 

はつ夢や、おもふて寝たる、日の光
"hatsu yume ya,omofute neta-ru,hi no hikari "

 

meaing is:
I went to bed expecting year's good first dream, but when I woke up, it was morning.

[Bob M.]

Thank you Morita -san - I will use this translation when I post the tsuba to the NMB some time later this year.

 

Best Regards

Bob

[SteveM]

On 7/20/2022 at 7:58 PM, SteveM said:

Beautiful, but quite difficult to decipher. Hopefully someone with a high level of calligraphic/sōsho/grass script reading skills can take a look.

 

Turns out you also needed to be proficient in "hentaigana". The 川 certainly threw me, as I, too, expected this to be some poem talking about nature. Even with the clues of "hatsu yume", it totally slipped under my radar. 

 

But its a classic use of hentaigana. If any of you are wondering how you get は and つ from those first two characters, its not very intuitive.

Much respect to Morita-san. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob M.]

For easier comparison of the above....