はちすはのにごりにしまぬ心もて
なにかはつゆを玉とあざむく
なにかはつゆを玉とあざむく
- Roma-ji
-
Hachisuba no nigori ni shimanu kokoro mote
nani ka wa tsuyu o tama to azamuku - English Translation
-
Lotus leaves that grow
unstained within muddy waters,
keeping a pure heart—
why then do they, with the dew,
make it seem a shining gem?
- Meaning
- Though lotus leaves grow in muddy water without being stained, why do they, with such a pure heart, make the dew upon them appear like a jewel and thus deceive?
- Commentary
-
Book III, Summer Poems
Composed upon seeing dew upon lotus leaves.
Though the lotus remains unstained in muddy water, symbolizing purity, the dew upon its leaves appears like a jewel, as if deceiving the eye. The poem reflects a sensibility shaped by Buddhist thought, in which the lotus holds deep symbolic meaning.
- Author
- Sojo Henjo
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Is it of old times that it still feels such longing, the cuckoo that cries— it comes to my former home and sings there, as once it did?
- Though it is not I, the cuckoo, among deutzia, cries as it flies on— as if through this weary world, it wanders in sorrow like me.
- In a summer night, still thinking it early eve, dawn has already come— in what part of the clouds now does the moon find its lodging?
- Since the day it bloomed, I have thought not even dust should settle on it— this pink, like one I sleep with, dear as my beloved one.