夏まけて咲きたるはねずひさかたの
雨うち降らば移ろひなむか
雨うち降らば移ろひなむか
- Roma-ji
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Natsu makete sakitaru hanezu hisakata no ame uchifuraba utsuroinamu ka
- English Translation
-
Now that summer's come,
the hanezu that bloom here:
from the far heavens
if the rain should fall on them,
will their color fade away?
- Meaning
- The hanezu blossoms that opened as summer arrived: if the rain comes down from the heavens, will their color fade away?
- Commentary
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Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1485
Headnote: "A poem on the hanezu blossom by Ōtomo no Yakamochi"
The poet worries that the hanezu blossoms that opened with the coming of summer may fade if struck by rain. Hanezu flowers were known for losing their color easily, and the poem expresses regret for their fleeting beauty.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official of the Nara period. He rose to the post of Middle Counselor, is thought to have been closely involved in compiling the Man'yōshū, and left more poems than anyone else in the anthology.
In the first line, "maku" means to reach a season, so the line means "summer having come."
The second line names the hanezu in bloom, a tree that bears pale crimson flowers in early summer, thought to be the downy cherry or a similar plant.
The third line, "hisakata no," is a pillow word for "rain."
The fourth line is a supposition, "if the rain should fall"; "uchi" is a prefix.
The final line, with the perfective "na," conjectural "mu," and interrogative "ka," worries whether the color will fade.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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