Maidenflower there—
with distaste I pass it by,
going on my way;—
for it stands upon Mount Otoko,
so it seems to me indeed.

Meaning

Seeing the maidenflower, I pass it by with distaste, for it stands blooming on Mount Otoko.

Commentary

Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)

Composed when the poet visited Bishop Henjō from Nara and saw maidenflowers on Mount Otoko.

The maidenflower (ominaeshi), often likened to a woman, is seen growing on “Mount Otoko” (Mount Man), and the poet finds this disagreeable. The poem plays on the contrast between the feminine flower and the masculine place name.

Mount Otoko is the mountain where Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine stands and has long been well known.

“Ushi” means disagreeable or unpleasant.

Author

Furu no Imamichi

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

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.
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.
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.
If I should lodge there in fields where maidenflowers bloom in great numbers, without cause, a fleeting name would surely rise about me.

Maidenflower there— with distaste I pass it by, going on my way;— for it stands upon Mount Otoko, so it seems to me indeed.

Maidenflower there—
with distaste I pass it by,
going on my way;—
for it stands upon Mount Otoko,
so it seems to me indeed.