古畑のそばの立つ木にゐる鳩の
友呼ぶ声のすごき夕暮
友呼ぶ声のすごき夕暮
- Roma-ji
-
Furuhata no soba no tatsu ki ni iru hato no tomo yobu koe no sugoki yūgure
- English Translation
-
On the old field's edge,
in a tree upon the cliff
a dove is perched—
the voice calling for its mate,
how desolate the dusk.
- Meaning
- A dove perched in a tree on the cliff by an abandoned field calls to its companion—how desolate the evening is.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1676
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on old fields and villages. A dove perched in a tree on the cliff by an old field calls to its companion in the desolate evening. The headnote gives the topic as unknown and records nothing of the circumstances.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," was named Satō Norikiyo in lay life. A guard in the service of Retired Emperor Toba, he took holy orders at the age of twenty-three.
The first line, "furuhata no," means "of the old field" no longer tilled.
The second line, "soba no tatsu ki ni," means "in a tree standing on the cliff." "Soba" is a steep cliff.
The third line, "iru hato no," means "of the dove that perches there."
The fourth line, "tomo yobu koe no," means "of its voice calling its companion." Following the village with no human answer in the preceding poem, here only the dove's voice resounds.
The last line, "sugoki yūgure," ends in a noun, closing on an evening chillingly lonely. "Sugoshi" describes a desolation that pierces the heart.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Oka no be no sato no aruji o tazunureba hito wa kotaezu yamaoroshi no kaze
- Next Poem
-
Yamagatsu no kataoka kakete shimuru no no sakai ni tateru tama no oyanagi