Difficult one

I must confess to failure with the following poem by Nagatsuka Takashi:

垂乳根の母が釣りたる青蚊帳を
　　　すがしといねつたるみたれども
(長塚節 1879-1915)

It's especially the second half that caused me problems. I think that may be the last of the tanka.

Umaoi no

馬追虫の/髭のそよろに/来る秋は
　　　まなこを閉じて/想い見るべし
(長塚節 1879-1915)

umaoi no / hige no soyoro ni / kuru aki ha
　　　manako wo tojite / omoimirubeshi
(Nagatsuka Takashi 1879-1915)

the autumn that comes
with the rustling
of a bush-cricket's whiskers
　　　is best imagined
　　　with eyes closed


That 'beshi' at the end is the same as the modern 'beki', Wikipedia notes in passing in the middle of this article about dialects. Of course you can't always trust Wikipedia, but it seems to make sense in the poem. The season word in this poem is the 'bush-cricket' (or 'katydid' if you prefer, or 'long-horned grasshopper' though that seems a little long), which is connected with the beginning of autumn. However, it seems a little odd that the season in this poem is imagined, so that we might wonder what season we should be imagining autumn from.

I hope that I'm correct in translating 'hige' as 'whiskers', as bush-crickets don't seem to have anything particularly closely resembling whiskers, though if you look at this picture you can kind of imagine them. The rustling of these whiskers is going to be pretty difficult to notice, so I wonder if that's part of what the poem is saying, that nature is better imagined than seen. On the other hand, the poem might be saying that autumn is a particularly subtle season by nature, compared with other seasons.

Alternate searches:

'kuru aki wa' 'manako o tojite' 'omoimiru beshi'

Ottosei

おっとせい/氷に眠る/さいわいを
　　　我も今知る/おもしろきかな
(山川登美子 1879-1909)

ottosei / koori ni nemuru / saiwai wo
　　　ware mo ima shiru / omoshiroki kana
(Yamakawa Tomiko 1879-1909)

I now also know
the happiness
of a seal
　　　sleeping on ice:
　　　how amusing!


We might wonder, like this Japanese blogger, whether sleeping on ice can come to feel amusing (or interesting or funny) at some point. If it wasn't for that last comment about how 'amusing' it is, I would probably have translated 'saiwai' as 'good fortune' or something similar. There seems to be something more going on in the poem than simple amusement though. What is the happiness of a seal sleeping on ice? Against a bleak backdrop, the seal sleeps, protected by its fur from the harsh environment. An image of self-sufficiency, or am I going too far in my interpretation on too little evidence?

Another Japanese blogger suggests (as far as I understand) that Yamakawa may have been amused by finding happiness in the unshowy everyday. But the fact that the seal is sleeping would also seem to be of some significance. The world is harsh, but it is shut out, because the seal is sleeping through it. So I return to self-sufficiency, except it's not only fur that protects the seal, but also loss of consciousness through sleep that is the only way to happiness in this world. How amusing?

Alternate searches:

'saiwai o'