見し夢をいづれの世ぞと思ふ間に
折を忘れぬ花の悲しさ
折を忘れぬ花の悲しさ
- Roma-ji
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Mishi yume o izure no yo zo to omou ma ni ori o wasurenu hana no kanashisa
- English Translation
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The dream that we saw—
as I wonder in which world
it could have been,
how sad the flowers that forget
not the season of their time!
- Meaning
- While I wonder in what world the dream we saw might have been, how sad the flowers that never forget their season.
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1585
Headnote: "Reply."
This is the ninth poem of the sequence on winter, Mikata no Senji's reply to Fujiwara no Kintō's poem in the preceding poem. While she wonders in what world the dream they saw took place, she finds sad the flowers that never forget their season.
The author, "Mikata no Senji," was a lady-in-waiting of the mid-Heian period.
The Buddha-Names refers to the Buddha-Names Service, a rite held for three days in the twelfth lunar month at the palace and elsewhere, in which the names of the Buddhas of past, present, and future were chanted to repent the sins of the year. Shaved flowers were artificial flowers made by shaving wood into the shape of blossoms, offered before the Buddha.
The first line, "mishi yume o," means "the dream we saw." It takes up "samenuru yume" of the preceding poem.
The second line, "izure no yo zo to," means "of which world it was." It shows that the dreamlike reign has grown distant.
The third line, "omou ma ni," means "while I wonder."
The fourth line, "ori o wasurenu," means "not forgetting the season." It refers to the shaved flowers offered unfailingly at the Buddha-Names Service each year.
The last line, "hana no kanashisa," ends on a noun. The flowers offered faithfully in season even as the reign has changed are all the sadder, and she answers "sono yo ni nitaru hana no iro" of the preceding poem with a contrast between unchanging flowers and a changed world.
- Author
- Mikata no Senji
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Hodo mo naku samenuru yume no uchi naredo sono yo ni nitaru hana no iro kana
- Next Poem
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Oinu tomo mata mo awan to yuku toshi ni namida no tama o tamuketsuru kana