Tsukushi ni mo murasaki ouru nobe wa aredo nakina kanashibu hito zo kikoenu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

筑紫にも紫生ふる野辺はあれど
なき名悲しぶ人ぞ聞こえぬ

Roma-ji: Tsukushi ni mo murasaki ouru nobe wa aredo nakina kanashibu hito zo kikoenu
English Translation: Even in Tsukushi
there are meadows where the plant
of purple grows, yet
of one who grieves my false name
not a word comes to my ears.
Meaning: Even in Tsukushi there are meadows where the purple-root grows, yet I hear of no one who grieves over the false charge laid against me.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1697

Headnote: "Meadow."
A poem on the topic of the meadow, this is the eighth of Sugawara no Michizane's twelve poems on one-character topics. Even in Tsukushi there are meadows where purple-root grows, yet no voice reaches him of anyone grieving over his false name. It is a poem in which his grief at being exiled on a false charge comes through directly.
The author, "Kan Zō Daijō Daijin," is Sugawara no Michizane. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem. The son of Sugawara no Koreyoshi and renowned as a scholar and poet in Chinese, he rose to Minister of the Right but under Emperor Daigo was demoted to Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu and died in exile. Because he was posthumously granted the office of Chancellor, he is referred to by this title.
The "purple" is said to draw on an anonymous poem in the Kokin Wakashū: "Murasaki no / hitomoto yue ni / Musashino no / kusa wa minagara / aware to zo miru" ("For the sake of one purple-root, all the grasses of Musashino are dear to me"). Taking up the spirit of that old poem, he laments that though there are meadows where purple grows, there is no one who feels for him.

The first line, "Tsukushi ni mo," names the land of Kyushu. It is where Dazaifu lay, the place of the poet's exile, and "ni mo" carries the sense of "even here, so far from the capital."
The second line, "murasaki ouru," means "where purple-root grows." The sounds of "Tsukushi" and "murasaki" echo each other.
In the third line, "nobe wa aredo," the particle "do" is concessive. The meadow of the topic is worked in here, and the poem turns to the lament of the lower verse.
In the fourth line, "nakina kanashibu," "nakina" is a groundless reputation, that is, a false charge. "Kanashibu" means to grieve or feel pity.
The last line, "hito zo kikoenu," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with "nu," the attributive form of the negative "zu." The tie of the purple-root proves empty, and he grieves in a solitude that not even a sympathetic voice can reach.
Author: Sugawara no Michizane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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