水の面に生ふる五月の浮草の
うきことあれや根を絶えて来ぬ
うきことあれや根を絶えて来ぬ
- Roma-ji
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Mizu no omo ni ouru satsuki no ukikusa no uki koto are ya ne o taete konu
- English Translation
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On the water's face
growing in the fifth month,
like the floating weed,
has something made you bitter,
that, roots cut, you do not come?
- Meaning
- Like the floating weeds that grow on the water in the fifth month, have you met with something bitter, that you have cut your roots, as it were, and no longer come?
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 976
Headnote: "Composed and sent to a friend who had not come to see me for a long time"
Sent to a friend who had not visited for a long time, this poem uses the floating weeds of the fifth month as a preface to ask whether something painful has happened, that the friend has stopped coming like a weed whose roots are cut, showing concern while urging a visit.
It shares "floating weed" and "roots cut" with Ono no Komachi's poem 938 in this book. Where Komachi would drift away like floating weed if invited, this poem likens a friend who has cut ties and stopped coming to floating weed, using the same words for the opposite situation.
The author, "Mitsune," is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, "on the water's face," sets the scene.
The second line, "growing in the fifth month," gives the season.
The third line, "like the floating weed," completes a preface leading to uki in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "has something made you bitter," contains the pivot word uki, "floating" and "bitter"; ya is interrogative.
The last line, "that, roots cut, you do not come?", uses "roots," associated with floating weed, as a figure for broken contact. Konu takes the attributive form after ya.
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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