秋来れば野辺にたはるる女郎花
いづれの人かつまで見るべき
いづれの人かつまで見るべき
- Roma-ji
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Aki kureba nobe ni tawaruru ominaeshi izure no hito ka tsumade mirubeki
- English Translation
-
When the autumn comes
wantoning in the meadows,
maiden flowers bloom—
who among us could just look
and not pluck one for a wife?
- Meaning
- When autumn comes, the maiden flowers frolic in the fields; who could simply gaze upon them without plucking one to call his own?
- Commentary
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Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1017
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Likening the maiden flowers to women playfully beckoning, the poet says no one could resist picking them. "Tsumade" joins "tsumade," without plucking, with "tsuma," wife, hinting at amorous play. Following the "namameki tateru" of the preceding poem, this second poem of the sequence builds on the same conceit.
The author is unknown and is recorded as "Anonymous."
First line, "Aki kureba," is a causal clause: when autumn comes.
Second line, "nobe ni tawaruru," uses "tawaru," to frolic or behave wantonly, personifying the flower as a woman. It echoes "namameki tateru" in the preceding poem.
Third line, "ominaeshi," repeats the flower of the preceding poem as the second of the sequence.
Fourth line, "izure no hito ka," uses "ka" as a rhetorical question particle.
Fifth line, "tsumade mirubeki," is a pivot word joining "tsumade," without plucking, and "tsuma," wife. "Beki" takes the attributive form in response to "ka."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Aki no no ni namameki tateru ominaeshi ana kashikamashi hana mo hitotoki
- Next Poem
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Akigiri no harete kumoreba ominaeshi hana no sugata zo miekakure suru