君にだに訪はれで経れば藤の花
たそかれ時も知らずぞありける
たそかれ時も知らずぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi ni dani towarede fureba fuji no hana tasogaredoki mo shirazu zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
Since I pass my days
not visited even by you,
wisteria flowers—
the hour of "Who goes there?"
I have not even known
- Meaning
- Since I pass my days without even you to visit me, in this season of wisteria I have not even known the twilight hour when one asks, "Who goes there?"
- Commentary
-
Book Three Spring Poems III 139
Headnote: "Reply."
Reproached for not coming, the poet replies that it is he who passes his days without even a visit from Masatada, so he has not known the twilight hour when one asks "Who goes there?" Turning the complaint about absence back on the other, he conveys the loneliness of his days.
137 and 138 were sent by Fujiwara no Masatada to Ki no Tsurayuki, and 139 and 140 are Tsurayuki's replies.
The poet, called "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he was the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and wrote its kana preface. He served as governor of Tosa among other posts, is known as the author of the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
In the first line, "dani" means "even": "even by you, whatever others may do."
In the second line, "de" is a negative conjunctive and "fu" means to pass time: "since I pass my days unvisited." Taking up "kimi kozute" in 137, he replies that he too goes without visits.
The third line, "fuji no hana," presents the wisteria blooming at the end of the Third Month, marking the season. The wisteria poems that began at 124 of this book appear here too as a scene of spring's end.
In the fourth line, "tasogare" is a pivot word joining "ta so kare," "who is that?" and "tasogare," twilight. Since no one comes, there is no evening in which to peer and ask who approaches.
In the last line, "zo" forms a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "keru."
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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