Title White Emperor Castle Poem

  • Aichi
Topic(s):
Historic Sites/Castle Ruins
Medium/Media of Use:
Web Page
Text Length:
≤250 Words
FY Prepared:
2019
Associated Tourism Board:
Inuyama City
Associated Address:
65-2 Kitakoken, Inuyama-shi , Aichi

犬山城 白帝城

犬山城は、「白帝城」としても知られています。江戸時代(1603~1867)に、中国の要塞であるBaidicheng(白帝城)に例えた日本人の儒学者によって付けられた愛称です。

Baidicheng(白帝城)は、中国の重慶にある長江の北岸の丘の上にあります。 Baidiは「詩の都市」としても知られています。なぜなら、多くの中国の詩人がそれについて書いたからです。李白は処罰され、赦免され、追放された後、帰り道に揚子江を航行中に755年に「早発白帝城」を書きました。


詩に:

「早発白帝城」

今朝、私は鮮やかな雲に包まれた白帝の町を出発します。

私は1日以内に遠い江陵に戻ります!

両方の斜面から、猿の泣き声が空気を満たします。

私たちの小さな舟はすでに何千もの丘の上を通り過ぎました。

李白(701-762)


White Emperor Castle Poem

Inuyama Castle is also known as “The White Emperor Castle” (Hakuteijo), a nickname given to it around the year 1700 by a Japanese Confucian scholar who likened the castle to Baidicheng, a Chinese fortress mentioned in a poem by Li Bai (below). Like Inuyama Castle, Baidicheng is located on a hill on the shore of a river. The similarities continue as the poem mentions monkeys, and the area around Inuyama is well-known for its population of primates.

Li Bai had been sentenced to death and wrote “Departing from Baidi in the Morning” in 755 while sailing down the Yangtze after he was pardoned. He expresses his joy in the opening of the poem:


“Departing from Baidi in the Morning”


This morning, I depart the town of Baidi, engulfed by vibrant clouds.

I return to faraway Jiangling within a single day!

From both banks the steady sound of monkeys fills the air.

Our little boat has already carried me past thousands of hilltops.

Li Bai (701–762), Chinese poet


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