秋霧の晴れて曇れば女郎花
花の姿ぞ見え隠れする
花の姿ぞ見え隠れする
- Roma-ji
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Akigiri no harete kumoreba ominaeshi hana no sugata zo miekakure suru
- English Translation
-
As the autumn mist
now clears away, now thickens,
maiden flowers stand—
and the figure of their bloom
now appears and now is hidden
- Meaning
- As the autumn mist lifts and gathers again, the figures of the maiden flowers slip in and out of sight.
- Commentary
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Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1018
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
On the surface it is a scene of maiden flowers glimpsed through autumn mist, but placed within a sequence that likens them to women, it playfully suggests a woman who shows herself and then hides. It is the third poem of the maiden flower sequence.
The author is unknown and is recorded as "Anonymous."
First line, "Akigiri no," is the mist of autumn, set here as what hides the flowers.
Second line, "harete kumoreba," means because it clears and clouds over by turns.
Third line, "ominaeshi," places the same flower in the third line as the third poem of the sequence.
Fourth line, "hana no sugata zo," uses the emphatic particle "zo." The form of the flower overlaps with the figure of a woman.
Fifth line, "miekakure suru," takes the attributive form "suru" in response to "zo."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Aki kureba nobe ni tawaruru ominaeshi izure no hito ka tsumade mirubeki
- Next Poem
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Hana to mite oramu to sureba ominaeshi utata aru sama no na ni koso arikere