紫の色濃き時はめもはるに
野なる草木ぞ分かれざりける
野なる草木ぞ分かれざりける
- Roma-ji
-
Murasaki no iro koki toki wa me mo haru ni no naru kusaki zo wakarezarikeru
- English Translation
-
When the purple
runs deep in its hue, as far
as eyes can reach
the budding plants of the field
cannot be told apart.
- Meaning
- When the purple runs deep, as far as the eye can see, the grasses and trees of the field, swelling with buds, cannot be told apart, and all seem dear.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 868
Headnote: "Sent with a court robe to a man married to his wife's younger sister"
This poem accompanied a court robe sent to the man married to his wife's younger sister, that is, a brother-in-law. Just as deep purple makes the plants of the field impossible to tell apart, his love for his wife is so deep that he regards her kin, including this man, as equally dear.
The author, "Narihira no Ason," is Ariwara no Narihira, son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei, and one of the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
This poem also appears in Episode 41 of The Tales of Ise and takes up the spirit of "the kin of the purple" from the preceding poem.
First line "murasaki no" repeats the opening of the preceding poem, 867, carrying on the idea of kinship through the gromwell.
Second line "iro koki toki wa" overlays the depth of purple with the depth of love for his wife, also alluding to the color of the robe.
Third line "me mo haru ni" is a pivot word joining "as far as the eye can see" and "buds swelling" on the plants.
Fourth line "no naru kusaki zo" points to all the plants of the field, a figure for his wife's kin; the particle zo reaches to the last line.
Fifth line "wakarezarikeru" closes zo with keru, meaning "they cannot be told apart."
- Author
- Ariwara no Narihira
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Murasaki no hitomoto yue ni musashino no kusa wa minagara aware to zo miru
- Next Poem
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Iro nashi to hito ya miruramu mukashi yori fukaki kokoro ni someteshi mono o