梅がえにきゐるうぐひすはるかけて
なけどもいまだ雪はふりつつ
なけどもいまだ雪はふりつつ
- Roma-ji
-
Ume ga e ni kiiru uguisu haru kakete
nakedomo imada yuki wa furitsutsu - English Translation
-
On plum-blossomed boughs,
a bush warbler comes to rest;
calling for the spring—
yet still, though it calls and calls,
the snow keeps falling down.
- Meaning
- The bush warbler perches on branches where the plum has blossomed, calling out as it waits for spring to come; and yet, though it calls, there is still no sign of spring, and the snow continues to fall lightly.
- Commentary
-
Volume One: Spring Songs (Upper)
The occasion for composing this poem is unknown.
Plum blossoms and the bush warbler, images of spring, already show the beginning of a tendency toward conventionalized seasonal imagery.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- The palace guards and their men stand far aside; in the unswept court, where no one tends the garden, flowers have fallen and lie.
- Two strokes for “ko,” the ox-horn shape for “i,” the straight line “shi,” the crooked form for “ku”— thus, my lord, you are.
- Over sea and hills, I spent my heart upon the road; no sacred bowl found— from the bowl that was not there, blood-red tears flowed at last.
- Even the light of resting dew might well lodge— on Mount Ogura, what was it you sought?