夏の夜に恋しき人の香をとめば
花橘ぞしるべなりける
花橘ぞしるべなりける
- Roma-ji
-
Natsu no yo ni koishiki hito no ka o tomeba hanatachibana zo shirube nari keru
- English Translation
-
On a summer night,
if I seek the fragrance of
the one I long for,
the orange blossoms, they would be
the guide to show me the way
- Meaning
- On a summer night, if I seek the fragrance of the one I long for, the orange blossoms are what guide me there.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 188
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
On a summer night, if one seeks the fragrance of a beloved, the orange blossoms are the guide. Sensing in their scent the fragrance of the beloved's sleeves, the poet shows a heart that follows that scent in longing.
Ever since the anonymous Kokin Wakashū poem saying that on smelling the orange blossoms that await the Fifth Month one catches the scent of the sleeves of someone from the past, the fragrance of orange blossoms has been sung as something that calls to mind past or beloved people. This poem draws on that conceit.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Natsu no yo ni," means "on a summer night," giving the season and hour when the orange blossoms' scent drifts on the air.
The second line, "koishiki hito no," means "of the one I long for."
In the third line, "tomu" means to seek, and "ba" marks a supposition: "if I seek the fragrance."
The fourth line, "hanatachibana zo," means "the orange blossoms indeed," with "zo" as an emphatic particle. Following 186 of this book, it again sings of orange blossoms.
The last line, "shirube nari keru," means "are the guide," with the attributive "keru" completing the kakarimusubi pattern with "zo" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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