かすがののわかなつみにや白妙の
袖ふりはへて人のゆくらむ
袖ふりはへて人のゆくらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Kasugano no wakana tsumi ni ya shirotae no
sode furihaete hito no yukuramu - English Translation
-
Perhaps going to Kasuga Field to gather young greens,
people go with the sleeves of their white garments fluttering.
- Meaning
- Could it be that they are going to Kasuga Field to gather young greens, with the sleeves of their white garments fluttering as they go?
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
Composed when the emperor commanded a poem to be offered, this song was thus presented.
The poem may be a byōbu-uta (screen poem) depicting Nara’s Kasuga Fields. The image of a woman with white sleeves fluttering as she goes to gather young greens deepens the aesthetic sentiment by connecting it to the familiar and cherished Kasuga Fields.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Pushing the azusa bow, today spring rain has fallen; if it falls even tomorrow, I shall gather the young greens then as well.
- For your sake I go out into the spring fields to gather young greens; on my sleeves the snow continues to fall.
- The spring-worn robe of haze, its weft threads thin, by the mountain wind is like to be torn and rent.
- Even the green of ever-constant pines, when spring comes, now deepens by yet another degree.