永緒杜陵

詞書

本文

遠泛仙槎向紫陽。
長空桂席入微茫。
此行不為支機石。
分得天章満錦嚢。

送余伯玉遊長崎

署名

杜陵懶叟（印）

読み下だし

英訳

The immortal's raft floats afar toward the purple sun.
Heavens so vast, the cassia seat off in the hazy distance.
This trip is not for the sake of finding the "loom-propping stone."
The splendid writings you'll receive shall fill an embroidered bag.

[Presented to Yo Hakugyoku as he departs for Nagasaki; by Toryō, the lazy old man]

Line one and two: This is presumably a metaphorical description of the departing gentleman's boat, which will set sail for Nagasaki, far to the west. The first two characters in line two could alternatively mean, "[The cassia seat], empty so long." The subject of partings was a particularly popular one in both China and Japan.

Line three: The "loom-propping stone," refers to a Chinese legend about a man who once was searching for the source of a river. On the way, he came upon a maiden silk floss in its water. She informed him that the river was the Milky Way (Jp. "Amanogawa," the River of Heaven) and gave him a stone, then went away. The man asked a diviner in Ch'eng-tu about the stone, and he learned that it was a loom-supporting stone belonging to the Weaving Maiden found in the Tanabata legend (see the notes to SBK 34 - 2, below). Since the Weaving Maiden, according to legend, has a yearly tryst with the Herdsman off in the heavens and is thus associated with romance, the poet is perhaps gently reminding the departing friend that he is going to Nagasaki to study, not for any frivolous pursuits.

Line four: When away from home during the day, the T'ang poet Li Ho (791 - 817) reportedly wrote lines of poetry and literary ideas on scraps of paper, which were then placed in a bag carried by his servant. At the end of the day the bag was emptied, and Li would fashion the notes into verses. Toryō appears to be saying that, instead of the miraculous stone of the Tanabata maiden his friend shall receive valuable teachings in Nagasaki to be stored away in his "bag" of knowledge. Nagasaki was a center for the study of the Chinese language and Western culture.

Afterword: The poet's style name, Toryō (Tu-ling in Chinese), seems to have been inspired by the great T'ang poet Tu Fu, whose ancestral family home was in Tu-ling, a district near Ch'ang-an.Yo Hakugyoku is probably a Japanese style name, "Yo" being short for Yoda, perhaps. If a Chinese name, it would be read Yü Po-yü. The individual in question remains unidentified.

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