Thursday, April 4, 2013

Chogonka, part 5

I'm back in the US so I should be able to do more regular updates now.  Two more Chogonka posts and then 1 or 2 for the Chogonka-den and we'll be back to the actual Genji; hopefully my readership will go above 1 view per post after that. :-)  I will try to get the last Chogonka posts up relatively quickly.

81 上は碧落を窮はめ、下は黄泉。
(The Daoist priest) searched up in the blue sky, and down in the yellow springs.

82 両つの処、茫々として皆見えず。
But in the vastness of both places, he did not see her anywhere.

83 忽ち聞く海上に仙山有りと,
Just then he heard about a mountain of sages above the sea,

- 仙 here is probably more specifically the Daoist "immortals" or supernatural beings.

84 山は虚無縹緲の間に在。
The mountain was in the far off distance, barely visible.

85 楼閣の玲瓏として五雲起き、
 A tower rose brilliantly through the five-hued clouds,

86 其の中に綽約たる仙子多し。
In there, there were many beautiful immortals.

87 中に一人有り、字は太真。
Among those, one had the style name of Taizhen.

- The "style name" is given to someone upon attaining adulthood; Taizhen was Yang Guifei's style name (Wikipedia says it was associated with her status as a Daoist nun before she became Xuanzong's consort).  SKT emends the text here (from other manuscripts) to 名玉妃 ("her name was Yufei"); Yufei seems to be a combination of her other names.

88 雪の膚、花の貌、参差として是なり。
She had white skin, and a beautiful face -- this almost had to be her.

89 金闕の西の廂に玉扃を叩けは,
The priest tapped on the jeweled door of the western wing of the gold watchtower,

- The images here are taken from traditional Daoist ideas of what the lands of the immortals looked like.

90 転(うた)、小玉をして双成を報ぜしむ。
Now then, he had Xiaoyu relay a message to Shuangcheng.

- These are traditional female immortals.

91 聞道(きくならく)、漢家天子の使なり。
They heard that this was a messenger from the Son of Heaven of the House of Han.

- Another example of Bai Juyi concealing Xuanzong's name by evoking Emperor Wu of Han.

92 九華帳の裏、夢魂驚く。
From inside the nine-flowered curtain, she was startled awake from her dream.

- I'm not sure what 魂 does here; it's in Hagiwara and wikisource.  SKT has 夢中 instead (without comment), which makes more sense.

93 衣を攬(かひと)り枕を推て、起て徘徊す。
She reached for her clothes and pushed aside her pillow, rising in a daze.

94 珠の箔(すだれ)、銀の屏、邐迤として開く。
The pearl curtains and the silver door opened as she went through.

95 雲の鬢(びんつら)、半ば偏(みだれ)て、新睡して覚たり。
Her cloud (dark) hair was half-disturbed; she had just awakened from sleep.

- The function of 新 here is to express the idea of having just done some action.

96 花の冠、整へずして、堂を下り来る。
She went down into the main hall, her headpiece not adjusted.

97 風仙袂を吹て、飄々として舉かる。
The wind blew her celestial sleeves, making them flutter.

98 猶、霓裳羽衣の舞に似たり。
Indeed it resembled the dance of rainbow skirts and feather robes.

- This is a reference back to line 32.

99 玉の容寂寞として涙闌干たり。
Her jeweled face was sad, and splotched with tears.

100 梨花一枝春雨を帯たり。
(Just like) A single branch of pear blossom, wreathed in spring rain.

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