Time Corridor “Land of Plenty, The legend of courage and protection”
【 Shining Nikki CN+TW 】
Time Corridor “Land of Plenty, The legend of courage and protection”
On the sacred mountain, the legends of the past are like golden poems left in the wind.
Beginning with iron, gold and turquoise, the gods of power were born.
He asked the young warriors: "Why do you desire strength?"
In order to open up the land, to fight against the cold, scorching heat and natural disasters, to become the strongest warrior, and to protect everything you want to protect.
As time passes, when desires begin to expand and the struggle becomes more intense,
Gold and jewelry bound the falcon that once roamed freely, and the "true faith" was buried in the rapid flow of time.
But there is still some kind of original power called "guarding", rushing through the blood of the gods.
"It doesn't matter.
A protective heart is enough to resist any destructive power."
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Here is my screen record video and edited audio of Hikaru's live performance last night on MiX MUSIC.
I don't know why the playback video quality is worse than the live stream lol, but I missed a few seconds in the live stream recording... Therefore I edited that few seconds and tried to make it better.
Just hope everyone can enjoy this video and support Hikaru on music platforms :)
No gushiwensday this week but I’ve translated some Li Shangyin to cheer on Laurence. Here’s another of his untitled poems.
The east wind shushes, ushers in a light rain;
outside, over the lotus pond, soft thunder rolls.
The golden toad gnaws the lock of the incense burner while its fragrance suffuses the room.
The jade tiger descends into the well on its silk rope and returns with water.
Jia Shi lifts the curtain to peer at young Han Shou,
but Fu Fei leaves only a pillow to the King of Wei.
Self-absorbed lovesickness drowns out the flowers of spring
and an inch of yearning becomes an inch of ash.
Li Shangyin is being a woman again. I’ve noticed he likes to do this. Why? Who can say! This poem outright states its thesis in the last line, yet it’s also very opaque and Li’s intentions are largely left as an exercise for the reader. I’ll talk about my interpretation line by line, because I get very definite Vibes and I’ve tried to infuse them into my translation.
The east wind... thunder rolls --- the poem starts strong with an onomatopoeia for the soughing or whistling of wind (sà sà!). I’ve pulled it together with the last character of the line (来 arrive) for shushes/ushers. Broadly, this is a peaceful pleasant image, but it also keeps the point of view character stuck inside.
The golden toad gnaws the lock --- according to Gushiwen a toad was a popular decoration for the lock of an incense burner, yet Li has added 啮 gnaw or bite---or even erode, which kind of gives the impression that it’s uselessly trying to destroy the lock.
The jade tiger... water --- a decoration for a well rope that also incorporates the image of a tiger, something powerful and wild, leashed by civilized silk that shouldn’t be able to hold it back, to meekly make repetitive trips down and up the well.
Jia Shi... Han Shou --- Jia Shi of Western Jin fell in love with one of her father’s vassals, Han Shou. I didn’t completely understand Gushiwen’s notes on this but their romance involved a gift of fragrance and they were allowed to marry. I’ve added that she’s lifting the curtain to imply a lack of barriers between her and her sweetheart.
Fu Fei... King of Wei --- in contrast, Fu Fei (aka Empress Zhen) was married to her beloved’s (the King of Wei’s) younger brother, and only after death was she able to express her love, leaving him a jade belt and a pillow embroidered in gold. In the same way the Jia Shi allusion faintly echoes the incense burner, I wonder if Fu Fei holds a faint echo of the jade tiger. Anyway, I think these lines are meant to span the gamut of how well being in love can work out for noble ladies. Not clear if this is the same person or what, but Gushiwen says she drowned herself in the Luo River and became a patron god of it?
Self-absorbed... flowers of spring --- this was quite a difficult line to translate! The original reads literally something like “if lovesickness doesn't share, flowers strive to make themselves heard.” The description for the flowers, 争发, seems to be sort of like “striving/debating to issue/send a message.” The phrase “flowers of spring” just kinda sounds nice, and references the idiom 春心 “spring thoughts” for being in love.
an inch... of ash --- I wanted to preserve the striking original wording rather than trying to interpret it.