青柳の糸縒りはへて織る機を
いづれの山の鴬か着る
いづれの山の鴬か着る
- Roma-ji
-
Aoyagi no ito yorihaete oru hata o izure no yama no uguisu ka kiru
- English Translation
-
Of the green willow
twisting threads and stretching them
the cloth that's woven—
from which mountain will it be
the warbler comes to wear it?
- Meaning
- The cloth woven from green willow branches twisted into threads and stretched out long—which mountain's warbler will put it on?
- Commentary
-
Book Two Spring Poems II 58
Headnote: "On the spirit of spring."
Likening the slender branches of the green willow swaying in the wind to threads, the poet imagines the cloth woven from them and wonders which mountain's warbler will wear it. Through the figures of weaving and clothing, the poem gracefully joins willow and warbler, two images of spring.
According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of the spirit of spring. Treating willow branches as threads and the warbler as a bird that wears what is made of them recalls the sacred song in the Kokin Wakashū in which the warbler sews a plum-blossom hat from green willow thread.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, governor of Ise, and served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She received Emperor Uda's favor and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The first line, "Aoyagi no," presents a newly budding, fresh green willow. 67 of this book also begins with "Aoyagi no."
The second line, "ito yorihaete," means twisting the willow branches into thread and stretching them long. "Thread," "twisting," and "stretching" are associated words of weaving that run on to the last line.
In the third line, "hata" refers to the cloth on the loom, likening the willow branches to a woven fabric.
The fourth line, "izure no yama no," wonders about the mountain where the warbler lives.
In the last line, "ka" is an interrogative particle forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "kiru," likening the willow's green to a garment the warbler wears.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Sakurabana nushi o wasurenu mono naraba fukikomu kaze ni kotozute wa seyo
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Ai omowade utsurou iro o miru mono o hana ni shirarenu nagame suru kana