独りのみながめふるやのつまなれば
人をしのぶの草ぞ生ひける
人をしのぶの草ぞ生ひける
- Roma-ji
-
Hitori nomi nagame furuya no tsuma nareba hito o shinobu no kusa zo oikeru
- English Translation
-
Since I, all alone,
sit and gaze on the long rains
at the eaves of this old house,
the grass of remembering you
has grown thick along its edge
- Meaning
- Because I live alone, lost in thought as I watch the long rains fall from the eaves of this old house, the fern of longing, named for remembering you, has grown there.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 769
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
From the hare's-foot fern, shinobu, growing at the eaves of the old house where he lives brooding alone, the poem speaks of his longing, also shinobu, for his lover. Layered pivot words, nagame, furu, tsuma, and shinobu, weave together the scene of a ruined house and the lonely heart that waits.
The author, "Sada no Noboru," is Sada no Noboru, a son of Emperor Ninmyō by the lady-in-waiting Mikuni no Machi. First given the surname Minamoto as Minamoto no Noboru, he was struck from the register and became a monk when his mother was suspected of an affair. He returned to lay life in 866 but could not regain the Minamoto name, and was granted the surname Sada.
The first line, "all alone," shows a solitary life with no lover visiting.
In the second line nagame means both gazing in thought and "long rains," and furu means both passing time and rain falling, leading into furuya, "old house."
In the third line tsuma means both the edge of the eaves and "spouse," and nareba gives the reason.
In the fourth line shinobu is a pivot word, meaning both to long for someone and the hare's-foot fern.
The last line resolves zo with keru, attributive of the past keri. The fern on the old eaves is his enduring longing given visible form.
- Author
- Sada no Noboru
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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