Shimogare wa soko tomo mienu kusa no hara tare ni towamashi aki no nagori o

English Translation

Withered by the frost,
nothing marks the place it was—
this field of grass;
whom then shall I ask about
what lingers of the autumn?

Meaning

Withered by the frost, this field of grass no longer shows where anything once was. Whom shall I ask about what remains of autumn?

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 617

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the seventh poem of the frost-and-withering sequence. In a field of grass withered by frost until nothing can be told apart, the speaker wonders whom to ask about what remains of autumn. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Daughter of Toshinari, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," is Shunzei's Daughter. A granddaughter of Fujiwara no Shunzei, she was adopted as his daughter. She became the wife of Minamoto no Michitomo and was active in Retired Emperor Go-Toba's poetic circle.
The scene is winter with the grasses withered by frost, and the place is a field of grass withered all over.
The direct occasion is not recorded.
The phrase "kusa no hara," field of grass, draws on the poem of Oborozukiyo in the "Hana no En" chapter of The Tale of Genji: "Ukimi yo ni yagate kienaba tazunete mo kusa no hara o ba towaji to ya omou" (If this wretched self should vanish from the world, would you not seek me out even in the fields of grass?). Concerning this phrase, Fujiwara no Shunzei famously remarked in his judgments for the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds that a poet who has not read The Tale of Genji is to be deplored.

The first line, "shimogare wa," means "now that all is withered by frost."
The second line, "soko tomo mienu," means "with nothing to show where anything was." The field has withered all over, so that the places of the former flowering meadow can no longer be told apart.
The third line, "kusa no hara," is a noun, and the poem breaks after the third line. In Oborozukiyo's poem in The Tale of Genji it names the place where one seeks the traces of the dead, and here the heart that seeks the traces of an autumn now gone is laid over it.
The fourth line, "tare ni towamashi," means "whom shall I ask?" with "mashi" expressing hesitation.
The last line, "aki no nagori o," means "about what lingers of the autumn," in inverted relation to the fourth line. It laments that there is no one to ask about autumn's traces in the frost-withered field, receiving, from the side of the one who seeks, the reproach in Oborozukiyo's poem, "would you not seek me even in the fields of grass?" Where 610 in this book sang of the moon seeking in frost the traces of its lodging of dew, this poem sings of a person seeking autumn's traces in a frost-withered field, continuing the device of seeking the traces of what is lost.

Author

Shunzei's Daughter

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other