Irihi sasu fumoto no obana uchinabiki taga akikaze ni uzura nakuran

English Translation

Pampas at the foot
of the hills in setting sun
bend and sway along—
in whose autumn weariness
does the quail cry out its call?

Meaning

The pampas grass at the foot of the hills bends in the light of the setting sun—in the autumn wind of whose waning love does the quail cry?

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems II 513

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "At the Poetry Contest in 1,500 Rounds."
This is the second poem of the quail sequence. As the pampas grass at the foot of the hills sways in the setting sun, the poet wonders in whose autumn wind of weariness the quail is crying. The headnote continues from the preceding poem: it was composed for the Poetry Contest in 1,500 Rounds.
The author was a son of Palace Minister Minamoto no Michichika who later rose to Chancellor.
The scene is an autumn evening, in fields of pampas grass at the foot of the hills.
The direct occasion was the Poetry Contest in 1,500 Rounds, completed around 1202.

The first line, "irihi sasu," means "where the setting sun shines."
In the second line, "obana" are the plumes of pampas grass.
In the third line, "uchi" is a prefix; the pampas grass sways, letting the autumn wind of the fourth line be felt in advance.
In the fourth line, "aki" is a pivot word joining the season "autumn" with being "tired of" by someone: "in the autumn wind of whose weariness."
In the last line, "ran," the attributive of the conjectural "ramu," answers "taga," "whose." The quail's cry is heard as the lament of one abandoned by a lover grown weary. Taking up the tale behind 512—the woman who would become a quail crying on the moor—this poem sets the abandoned one's quail cry within a scene of sunset and pampas grass. Against the still, desolate village of 512, this is a moving scene of fields in the setting sun.

Author

Minamoto no Michiteru

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other