白妙ににほふ垣根の卯の花の
うくも来て訪ふ人のなきかな
うくも来て訪ふ人のなきかな
- Roma-ji
-
Shirotae ni niou kakine no u no hana no uku mo kite tou hito no naki kana
- English Translation
-
Shining pure white,
the hedge where deutzia
blossoms brightly glow—
sorrowful, for there is no one
who comes to call on me here
- Meaning
- White and gleaming bloom the deutzia on my hedge—and sorrowful, as their name suggests, there is no one who comes to visit me.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 154
Headnote: "Sent in reproach because a friend did not come even to inquire after her."
Like the name of the deutzia gleaming white on the hedge, it is sorrowful that no one comes to visit. Drawing "uku," sorrowfully, from the "u" of the deutzia, the poem voices resentment at a friend who never calls.
According to the headnote, it was sent in reproach because a friend did not come even to pay a call.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the author as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.
The first line, "Shirotae ni," means "pure white," expressing the whiteness of the deutzia. The whiteness likened to snow in 153 of this book is here called "shirotae."
In the second line, "niou" means to glow with beautiful color, naming the hedge where the deutzia blooms.
Up to the third line, "u no hana no," the words form a preface leading to "uku," sorrowfully, which shares the sound "u." In 151 as well, the "u" of the deutzia echoed in "ushi."
In the fourth line, "uku" is a pivot word joining "u" of the deutzia and "uku," sorrowfully: "sad to say," leading to the last line.
The last line, "hito no naki kana," means "there is no one," with "kana" as a sigh. Against the visit to a house in the preceding poem, 153, it sets the lament of one whom no one visits.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Toki wakazu fureru yuki ka to miru made ni kakine mo tawa ni sakeru u no hana
- Next Poem
-
Toki wakazu tsuki ka yuki ka to miru made ni kakine no mama ni sakeru u no hana