詩経
汉广
Anonymous
南有乔木
不可休思
汉有游女
不可求思
汉之广矣
不可泳思
江之永矣
不可方思
翘翘错薪
言刈其楚
之子于归
言秣其马
汉之广矣
不可泳思
江之永矣
不可方思
翘翘错薪
言刈其蒌
之子于归
言秣其驹
汉之广矣
不可泳思
江之永矣
不可方思
翻訳
In the south there are tall trees, yet one cannot rest beneath them. By the Han River there are wandering maidens, yet one cannot seek them. The Han is so broad, one cannot swim across it. The Jiang is so long, one cannot cross it by raft. Among the high, tangled firewood, I would cut the thorny branches. If that young woman goes to her marriage, I would feed her horse. The Han is so broad, one cannot swim across it. The Jiang is so long, one cannot cross it by raft. Among the high, tangled firewood, I would cut the lou plants. If that young woman goes to her marriage, I would feed her colt. The Han is so broad, one cannot swim across it. The Jiang is so long, one cannot cross it by raft.
解説
"Han Guang" is one of the most memorable poems of unattainable longing in the Book of Songs. It presents a man's desire for a woman by the Han River, but the dominant feeling is distance. The woman is visible, imagined, and desired, yet unreachable. The poem begins with a natural image: tall trees in the south, but one cannot rest beneath them. This creates the pattern of the poem: something exists, but cannot be possessed or used. The next lines transfer that feeling to human desire. There are maidens by the Han River, but they cannot be sought. The refrain is the heart of the poem: the Han is too broad to swim across; the Jiang is too long to cross by raft. These rivers are real geographical images, but they also become emotional symbols. The water stands for distance, social boundary, ritual limitation, or simply the impossibility of fulfillment. The later stanzas introduce the image of cutting selected plants from tangled wood. This may suggest choosing one desired person from among many, or preparing for a marriage-related setting. In either case, it continues the theme of selection and desire. The lines "If that young woman goes to her marriage, I would feed her horse" are especially restrained. The speaker does not boldly claim that he will marry her. Instead, he imagines serving in the margins of her marriage journey, feeding her horse or colt. This humility makes the longing more poignant. The repeated "cannot" gives the poem its emotional structure: cannot rest, cannot seek, cannot swim, cannot cross. Desire is present, but every path toward fulfillment is blocked. The result is not dramatic despair, but a wide, lingering sadness, like standing on the bank of a river and looking toward someone who cannot be reached. The beauty of "Han Guang" lies in its spaciousness. It turns love into geography. The breadth of water becomes the breadth of separation, and the repeated refrain makes longing feel both musical and irreversible.
作者紹介
"Han Guang" comes from the "Zhou Nan" section of the "Airs of the States" in the Book of Songs. Its author is unknown. The Book of Songs is the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, containing more than three hundred poems from roughly the early Western Zhou to the mid-Spring and Autumn period. The "Zhou Nan" poems often concern love, marriage, household life, labor, and ritual culture. "Han Guang" is a classic poem of distant longing, using the breadth of the Han River and the length of the Jiang River to express desire that can be seen but not fulfilled.