宮城野の露吹きむすぶ風の音に
小萩がもとを思ひこそやれ
小萩がもとを思ひこそやれ
- Roma-ji
-
Miyagino no tsuyu fukimusubu kaze no oto ni
kohagi ga moto o omoi koso yare - English Translation
-
On Miyagi moor
the wind that binds dew in drops—
hearing its sound now,
my thoughts go out to the small
bush clover at its root there
- Meaning
- Even in the sound of the wind that gathers the dew on Miyagi moor, my thoughts travel out to that small bush clover and how it fares.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Kiritsubo
After the consort's death, the Emperor's grief did not ease, and when the autumn wind had begun to bite he sent the lady Yugei no Myobu to the consort's home to see how her mother was faring. This poem was written in the Emperor's letter entrusted to her. The mother received it in tears, and would answer with a poem of her own.
"Miyagino" is a poetic place-name famous for its bush clover, and by that association it leads into "small bush clover." The small clover stands for the young prince, the future Hikaru Genji, while the dew carries the sense of tears as well. The Emperor's concern for his small son and for the life of the woman raising him is set into a single image: the sound of wind crossing an open field. He states no grief directly, and the feeling comes through the landscape instead, which is where the restraint of his sorrow shows.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
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Kagiri tote wakaruru michi no kanashiki ni
ikamahoshiki wa inochi narikeri - Next Poem
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Suzumushi no koe no kagiri o tsukushite mo
nagaki yo akazu furu namida kana