秋萩の散りの乱ひに呼びたてて
鳴くなる鹿の声の遥けさ
鳴くなる鹿の声の遥けさ
- Roma-ji
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Akihagi no chiri no magai ni yobitatete naku naru shika no koe no harukesa
- English Translation
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The autumn clover
in the swirling of its fall,
calling out aloud,
I hear the deer crying out:
how far away its voice
- Meaning
- Amid the swirl of falling autumn bush clover, a deer cries out, calling for its mate; how far away its voice sounds.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1550
Headnote: "A poem on the crying deer by Prince Yuhara"
Amid the swirl of falling autumn bush clover, the voice of a deer calling loudly for its mate echoes from far away. The colors of the scattering clover and the distant cry of the deer overlap, conveying the loneliness and breadth of deepening autumn.
The author, Prince Yuhara, was a son of Prince Shiki and a member of the imperial family in the Nara period, known for the clarity of his poetic style.
The first line names the bush clover blooming in the autumn fields.
In the second line, "magai" means a confused swirl, so the line means "amid the swirl of falling clover."
The third line means "calling out aloud," depicting the deer calling for its mate.
In the fourth line, "naru" is an auxiliary of inference from sound: "I hear it crying."
The final line ends on a noun, expressing wonder at the distance of the voice. Ōtomo no Yakamochi's 1494 in this book ends with the same line of the cuckoo in the summer mountains, so the summer bird and the autumn deer correspond as voices ringing from afar.
- Author
- Prince Yuhara
- Source
- Manyoshu
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