折にあへばこれもさすがにあはれなり
小田の蛙の夕暮の声
小田の蛙の夕暮の声
- Roma-ji
-
Ori ni aeba kore mo sasuga ni aware nari oda no kawazu no yūgure no koe
- English Translation
-
When the time is right,
even this, after all, moves
the heart deeply so:
the voices of the frogs
in the paddies at twilight.
- Meaning
- When the season is right, even this touches the heart after all—the voices of frogs in the rice fields at dusk.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1477
Headnote: "When I presented a hundred-poem sequence."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence on the things of late spring. When the season is right, the poet says, even the evening voices of frogs in the rice fields touch the heart. According to the headnote, it was composed when a hundred-poem sequence was presented to Retired Emperor Go-Toba.
The author, "Former Major Counselor Tadayoshi," was the son of Regent Fujiwara no Motozane. He rose to Major Counselor.
The first line, "ori ni aeba," means "when it suits the season." Adding "ba" to the perfective form, it refers to meeting the fitting time.
In the second line, "kore mo sasuga ni," "kore mo" implies "even something as slight as the voices of frogs." "Sasuga ni" means "even so, after all."
The third line, "aware nari," means "it moves the heart deeply," and the poem breaks after the third line.
In the fourth line, "oda no kawazu no," "oda" means rice field, with "o" as a prefix that smooths the rhythm. It presents frogs croaking in the spring fields.
The last line, "yūgure no koe," ends on a noun. Following the calling bird deep in Yoshino in the preceding poem, it sets the voices of frogs croaking at dusk in the fields of a village, shifting the voices of the season from bird to frog.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Tadayoshi
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yo o itou Yoshino no oku no yobukodori fukaki kokoro no hodo ya shiruran
- Next Poem
-
Haru no ame no amaneki miyo o tanomu kana shimo ni kareyuku kusaba morasu na