Akihagi o oradewa sugiji tsukikusa no hanasurigoromo tsuyu ni nuru tomo

English Translation

I shall not pass by
without breaking off a spray
of autumn's clover
though my flower-dyed robe should
be soaked and stained by the dew

Meaning

I will not go past without breaking a spray of autumn clover, though the robe I dyed with dayflower be soaked with dew.

Commentary

Book Four Autumn Poems I 330

Headnote: as in the preceding poem, topic unknown.
The third poem on bush clover. Where the previous poem left the dyeing to the flowers, this one accepts that a dyed robe will be ruined and breaks the spray anyway. The original gives no fresh headnote.
The poet, given by his rank, is Yoen (1048-1125), who served as superintendent of Kofuku-ji and rose to Provisional Archbishop.
The time is autumn; the place is where clover grows.
The occasion of composition is not recorded.
The dayflower's old name is used here; cloth dyed with its flowers was known to lose its colour when wet.

The first line names the object.
The second line joins a negative connective to an auxiliary of negative intention: I will not pass without breaking one. The same auxiliary as in the previous poem is used, and it points the other way.
The third line names the dayflower.
The fourth line names a robe dyed by rubbing flowers into it, taking up the verb of the previous poem, so that the two share the language of dyeing.
The particle at the close marks a concessive supposition. Dayflower dye runs, and dew will spoil the robe. To break the spray in spite of that shows the strength of the attachment. Accepting a loss knowingly is the posture of Saigyo's hundred and twenty-sixth poem in Book Two, which took on the grief that familiarity brings.

Author

Yoen

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other