露分けし袂干す間もなきものを
など秋風のまだき吹くらん
など秋風のまだき吹くらん
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuyu wakeshi tamoto hosu ma mo naki mono o nado akikaze no madaki fukuran
- English Translation
-
Parting through the dew,
my sleeves have not had time
to dry, and even so,
why is it that autumn's wind
already has begun to blow
- Meaning
- My sleeves, wet from pushing through the dew, have had no time to dry—so why does the autumn wind already blow?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems I 222
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet asks why the autumn wind already blows when his sleeves, wet from pushing through the dew, have not yet dried. It conveys bewilderment that autumn has come before the dew of the summer fields has dried; the dew on his sleeves also suggests tears.
The poet, Ōe no Chisato, was a son of Ōe no Otondo and was active in the reign of Emperor Uda. He is known for presenting Emperor Uda with the Kudai Waka, waka composed on lines of Chinese verse as topics, and his "tsuki mireba chiji ni mono koso kanashikere" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The first line, "Tsuyu wakeshi," means "that parted through the dew," with "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki."
The second line, "tamoto hosu ma mo," means "even the time to dry my sleeves," pointing to sleeves soaked with dew.
In the third line, "mono o" is an adversative conjunctive particle: "though there is none."
In the fourth line, "nado" is an interrogative adverb: "why does the autumn wind." Poems on the autumn wind continue around this point in the book.
In the last line, "madaki" means "already, too soon," and "ran" is an auxiliary conjecturing a cause: "why should it already be blowing?"
- Author
- Oe no Chisato
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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