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Narihira waka - correct Japanese? 2008/3/14 19:34
Hello. I am trying to work out the correct Japanese for a poem by Narihira. (I do not speak Japanese, so I am working in the dark!) The webpage on which I have been reading the waka gives this: "kakarade mo / ari ni si mono wo / sirayuki no / Fito Fi mo Fureba / masaru wa ga koFi". Those capital "F"s must surely be wrong...
Can someone tell me what the correct Japanese would be?

Thank you in advance.
by Ingrid  

... 2008/3/16 11:25
The one you have is correct too - the reason being, back in those days the Japanese language pronunciation seemed to have been different! They used to have "fa, fi, fu" (real "f" sound biting the lower lip) where now we say "ha, hi, fu" ("fu" is conventionally written with "f," but this is also pronounced without biting the lip). They must have used capital letter to indicate that it was a special, different sound.

But anyway to help with deciphering:

Kakarade mo
ari ni shi mono wo
shirayuki no
hito hi mo fureba
masaru wa ga koi

かからでも ありにしものを 白雪の 一日も降れば まさるわが恋 (拾遺和歌集)
by AK rate this post as useful

Thank you! 2008/3/16 12:09
Thank you very much. I also received a very helpful and kind reply from Dr Thomas McAuley about the difference in transcription in classical Japanese.
I am so tempted to begin learning this language. I speak a number of languages but none of them are Asian languages.
Once again, thank you very much.
- Ingrid
by Ingrid rate this post as useful

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