今朝鳴きて行きし雁が音寒みかも
この野の浅茅色づきにける
この野の浅茅色づきにける
- Roma-ji
-
Kesa nakite yukishi karigane samumi kamo kono no no asaji irozukinikeru
- English Translation
-
This morning they cried
as they went, the wild geese:
was their cry so cold?
The low reeds of this field
have taken on autumn's hue
- Meaning
- Was it because the cry of the geese that passed this morning was so cold? The low reeds of this field have turned to autumn color.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1578
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Seven poems from a banquet at the house of the Minister of the Right, Tachibana"
The poet wonders whether the cry of the geese that passed crying this morning was so cold that it colored the low reeds of this field. Seeing the coldness of the geese's voices as what dyed the reeds, he praises the deepening autumn of the banquet grounds. The note says, "The above two poems are by Abe no Ason Mushimaro."
The author, Abe no Mushimaro, was an official of the Nara period and a cousin of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue.
The first line means "crying this morning."
The second line names the voices of the geese that passed.
The third line adds the interrogative "ka" to "samumi," surmising "was it because they were cold?"
The fourth line, with an extra syllable, names the low reeds of the field where the banquet is held.
The final line forms a kakari-musubi, closing in "keru" in answer to the "ka" of the third line. Emperor Shōmu's 1540 in this book sings with almost the same conceit and final line, "just as I heard the geese's cry cold, the low reeds of the fields have colored," and this poem may be based on the Emperor's.
- Author
- Abe no Mushimaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Aki no no no obana ga ure o oshinabete koshiku mo shiruku aeru kimi kamo
- Next Poem
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Asato akete monomou toki ni shiratsuyu no okeru akihagi mietsutsu motona