classic waka stream

山里の物さびしさは荻の葉の
なびくごとにぞ思ひやらるる
Roma-ji

Yamazato no mono sabishisa wa ogi no ha no nabiku goto ni zo omoiyararuru

English Translation
The loneliness
of your village in the hills—
each time the reed leaves
bend and sway before the wind
my thoughts go out to you
Meaning
Each time the reed leaves bend before the wind, my thoughts go out to the loneliness of your mountain village.
Commentary
Book Five Autumn Poems I 266

Headnote: "In autumn, when Taifu was staying at a house near Uzumasa, the poet sent her a letter tucked into a reed leaf."
The poet says that each time the reed leaves bend before the wind, his thoughts go out to the loneliness of the mountain village where she is. Sending a letter tucked into a reed leaf, he expresses concern for her far away, drawing on how the rustle of reeds evokes the loneliness of autumn.
According to the headnote, when a lady-in-waiting called Taifu was staying in autumn at a house near Uzumasa, the poet sent her a letter tucked into a reed leaf. Taifu was a lady-in-waiting who exchanged many poems with Saneyori.
The poet, called "the Minister of the Left," is Fujiwara no Saneyori. The eldest son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, he was Minister of the Left when the Gosen Wakashū was compiled. He later rose to Regent and Grand Minister and was called the Lord of Ononomiya.
The text gives the second line as "mono sabishisa wa," which does not match "mono sabishiki wa" in the kana reading line. The wording of the text is followed here.

The first line, "Yamazato no," means "of the mountain village," referring to the area around Uzumasa where she was staying.
The second line, "mono sabishisa wa," means "the loneliness."
The third line, "ogi no ha no," means "the reed leaves," taking up the reed leaf into which the letter in the headnote was tucked. In 220 of this book too, reed leaves announce autumn's arrival.
The fourth line, "nabiku goto ni zo," means "each time they bend before the wind," with "zo" an emphatic particle.
In the last line, "ruru" is the attributive form of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru," completing the kakarimusubi pattern with "zo" in the fourth line: "my thoughts cannot help but go to you."
Author
Fujiwara no Saneyori
Source
Gosen Wakashu
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