Tsu no kuni no naniwa no haru wa yume nare ya ashi no kareha ni kaze wataru nari

English Translation

In the land of Tsu,
was the springtime of Naniwa
only a dream?
Over the withered leaves of reeds
I hear the wind go by

Meaning

In the land of Tsu, was that springtime at Naniwa only a dream? Now I hear the wind passing over the withered leaves of the reeds.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 625

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifteenth poem of the frost-and-withering sequence. Was the springtime scene at Naniwa, praised in the foundation poem, only a dream? Now the wind passes over the withered leaves of the reeds. The headnote continues from the preceding poem with no topic given, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo, and he served Retired Emperor Toba as a warrior of the Northern Guard, but took holy orders at twenty-three, traveled through the provinces, and left the poetry collection Sankashū.
The scene is winter, and the place is Naniwa in Settsu Province.
The direct occasion is not recorded.
The foundation poem is Nōin's poem in the Goshūi Wakashū: "Kokoro aramu hito ni misebaya Tsu no kuni no Naniwa watari no haru no keshiki o" (Would that I could show someone of feeling the springtime scene around Naniwa in the land of Tsu). The poem sets the spring scene of Naniwa praised there against a winter scene of withered reeds.

The first line, "tsu no kuni no," means "in the land of Tsu," taking the third line of the foundation poem as it stands.
The second line, "naniwa no haru wa," takes up "the springtime scene around Naniwa" of the foundation poem. Naniwa, around present-day Osaka, is a poetic place sung as an inlet thick with reeds.
The third line, "yume nare ya," means "was it a dream?" with "ya" expressing a question. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "ashi no kareha ni," means "over the leaves of the reeds withered in winter."
In the last line, "kaze wataru nari," "nari" is an auxiliary that infers from sound, saying that the sound of the wind passing over can be heard. Setting the spring scene of Naniwa that the foundation poem longed to show against a winter scene where only the wind sounds in the withered reeds, the poem sees that springtime as a dream. Following the withering brooding-grass of the preceding poem, it sings of a winter-withered landscape, and the next poem, 626, likewise sings of the reeds standing in clusters at Naniwa Inlet.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other