秋の野の草のたもとか花すすき
穂にいでてまねく袖と見ゆらむ
穂にいでてまねく袖と見ゆらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no no no kusa no tamoto ka hanasusuki
ho ni idete maneku sode to miyuramu - English Translation
-
is it the grasses’ sleeves
in the autumn fields that I see?
plumes of silver grass
emerging, seem to beckon—
like sleeves that call me near.
- Meaning
- Are they the sleeves of grasses in the autumn field? The plumes of silver grass, as they emerge, seem like sleeves beckoning someone near.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
Composed for a poetry contest in the imperial court during the Kanpyō era.
The sight of flowering susuki swaying in the autumn fields is likened to the gesture of beckoning a beloved. The phrase "ho ni idete" suggests a feeling that cannot be fully concealed, as if longing reveals itself outwardly.
"Tamoto" refers to the pouch-like part beneath the sleeve of a traditional robe.
- Author
- Ariwara no Muneyoshi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- a scent without a lord comes drifting forth in fragrance— on autumn fields wide, whose might it be, cast off and left, this wisteria-robe I see?
- from this time onward I shall not even plant to see the plume of silver grass— for when its ears emerge in autumn the loneliness grows too deep.
- am I alone in this to find such beauty moving? crickets softly cry— in the evening’s fading light blooms the yamato-nadeshiko.
- all in shades of green I saw them as a single grass in the springtime fields— yet in autumn they appear as flowers of many hues.