あはれとて問ふ人のなどなかるらむ
もの思ふ宿の荻の上風
もの思ふ宿の荻の上風
- Roma-ji
-
Aware tote tou hito no nado nakaruramu mono omou yado no ogi no uwakaze
- English Translation
-
Why is there no one
who comes calling out of pity,
saying, "Oh, poor thing"?
To this house of brooding thoughts
only wind across the reeds.
- Meaning
- Why is there no one who comes to call on me out of pity? To this house where I brood over love, only the wind comes, blowing over the reed leaves.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1307
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on waiting for a lover, sung through the wind. Why is there no one who comes out of pity? the speaker asks; to this house of brooding only the wind over the reeds comes. As with the preceding poem, the headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances are not recorded.
The author, "Saigyō the Priest," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served as a guard of the north quarter under Retired Emperor Toba, took holy orders at twenty-three, and traveled the provinces composing poetry.
The first line, "aware tote," means "saying, 'poor thing.'"
The second line, "tou hito no nado," means "why is it that someone to call," running on into the third line.
In the third line, "nakaruramu," "ramu" conjectures a cause: "why is there no one?" The poem breaks after this line.
The fourth line, "mono omou yado no," means "of the house where I brood."
The last line, "ogi no uwakaze," is the wind blowing over the reed leaves and ends on a noun. The rustling of reed leaves has long been sung as a sound suggesting a visitor. The poem closes on the contrast: no one comes, only the wind. Princess Shikishi's poem, 1309, closes with the same last line.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Kokoro ni wa itsumo aki naru nezame kana mi ni shimu kaze no ikuyo tomo naku
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Waga koi wa ima o kagiri to yūmagure ogi fuku kaze no otozurete yuku