classic waka stream

頼もしな野の宮人の植うる花
時雨るる月にあへずなるとも
Roma-ji

Tanomoshi na nonomiyabito no uuru hana shigururu tsuki ni aezu naru tomo

English Translation
How reassuring,
the flowers planted by those
who serve the Field Shrine—
even should they fail to bear
the month of the winter rains.
Meaning
How reassuring are the flowers planted by those who serve at the Field Shrine—even if they cannot hold out through the month of winter showers.
Commentary
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1576

Headnote: "When flowers were planted in the garden of the Field Shrine around the ninth month."
This is the seventeenth and last poem of the sequence expressing personal feelings through the things of autumn. The flowers planted by those who serve at the Field Shrine are reassuring, the poet says, even if they cannot endure the month of winter showers. According to the headnote, it was composed when garden plants were set out at the Field Shrine around the ninth month.
The author, "Minamoto no Shitagō," was the son of Minamoto no Kyo. As one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, he took part in compiling the Gosen Wakashū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō.
The Field Shrine was the temporary shrine where an imperial princess chosen as Ise Priestess purified herself before going down to Ise, set up at Sagano west of the capital and elsewhere.

The first line, "tanomoshi na," adds the exclamatory "na" to an adjective stem, declaring in the first line, "how reassuring."
The second line, "nonomiyabito no," refers to those who serve at the Field Shrine. They are people of a pure place in service to the gods.
The third line, "uuru hana," refers to the autumn flowers planted in the ninth month. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "shigururu tsuki ni," refers to the month of winter showers, that is, the tenth month at the start of winter. It shows the season when flowers wither.
The last line, "aezu naru tomo," means "even if they cannot endure." Flowers planted by those who serve the gods are reassuring even as winter comes; closing the sequence of autumn laments on a note of blessing, it links to the winter poems that follow.
Author
Minamoto no Shitagō
Source
Shin Kokin Wakashu
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