名にめでて折れる許りぞ女郎花
我おちにきと人にかたるな
我おちにきと人にかたるな
- Roma-ji
-
Na ni medete oreru bakari zo ominaeshi
ware ochiniki to hito ni kataru na - English Translation
-
Drawn by but the name,
I only plucked you, maiden-flower—
speak not, I implore,
tell no one that I have fallen
so low as to be thus ensnared.
- Meaning
- I plucked you only because I admired your name, maiden-flower; do not go telling others that I have fallen into such disgrace.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
The maidenflower (ominaeshi) is often likened to a woman. Since the poet, Henjō, was a monk, he playfully asks the flower not to spread word that he has been moved by a “woman” and plucked it.
An old note in the kana preface says, “Composed after falling from a horse in Sagano,” suggesting that he may have fallen while trying to pick the flower and is humorously asking it to keep that mishap secret.
The poem thus carries a light, self-conscious tone, as if the poet is disguising embarrassment with wit.
- Author
- Sojo Henjo
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Though bush clover blooms may be falling in the fields, through dew and white frost I will go on, drenched as I am, even though the night grows late.
- On autumn fields lie drops of white dew—are they gems? threaded one by one upon the slender strands spun of a spider’s woven thread.
- Maidenflower there— with distaste I pass it by, going on my way;— for it stands upon Mount Otoko, so it seems to me indeed.
- In autumn fields now I shall take my lodging here— maidenflower blooms; dear its very name to me, though I am not on a journey.