片岡の雪間に根ざす若草の
ほのかに見てし人ぞ恋しき
ほのかに見てし人ぞ恋しき
- Roma-ji
-
Kataoka no yukima ni nezasu wakakusa no honoka ni miteshi hito zo koishiki
- English Translation
-
On the slope's hillside,
rooting in the gaps of snow,
the young grass shows:
so faintly I saw her once,
and now I long for her so
- Meaning
- Like the young grass rooting in the gaps of snow on the hillside, I saw her only faintly, and now I long for her so.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1022
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of a sequence on love that seeks the faintest sign. Like young grass sprouting where the snow has melted, the one glimpsed only faintly is now dearly longed for. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Sone no Yoshitada," was a poet of the mid-Heian period. Having served as Secretary of Tango, he was called Sotan, and he is known for poems using novel words and expressions. His personal collection is the Sotanshū.
In the first line, "kataoka" means a hill that slopes on one side.
The second line, "yukima ni nezasu," means "taking root in the gaps where the snow has melted."
The third line, "wakakusa no," names the newly sprouted grass, and the first three lines form a preface that, through grass just peeping out, leads to "honoka ni."
In the fourth line, "teshi" combines the perfective "tsu" and the past "ki": I saw her only faintly.
In the last line, the emphatic "zo" is resolved by "koishiki." The freshness of young grass among the snow overlaps with the impression of one glimpsed faintly. Like "hatsuka ni dani mo" in 1018, it is love for one barely seen, and the next poem, by Izumi Shikibu, also speaks through grass with "kusa no hatsuka ni," linking the two by the image of grass.
- Author
- Sone no Yoshitada
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Mizu no ue ni ukitaru tori no ato mo naku obotsukanasa o omou koro kana
- Next Poem
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Ato o dani kusa no hatsuka ni miteshigana musubu bakari no hodo narazu tomo