Fujibakama kiru hito nami ya tachinagara shigure no ame ni nurashisometsuru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

藤袴着る人なみや立ちながら
時雨の雨に濡らしそめつる

Roma-ji: Fujibakama kiru hito nami ya tachinagara shigure no ame ni nurashisometsuru
English Translation: Purple trousers flower—
is it that none will wear you,
that while you still stand
the rain of the autumn showers
has begun to soak and dye you
Meaning: Is it because there is no one to wear you, purple trousers flower, that while you stand in the fields the autumn showers have begun to soak you and dye your color?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 351

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet wonders whether, since no one wears the purple trousers flower, it has begun to be soaked and dyed by the autumn showers as it stands in the fields. Taking the "trousers" in the flower's name for a garment, the poem conveys the loneliness of a flower wet with rain and worn by no one.
It is the opening poem of the book, setting late-autumn showers against an autumn flower and marking the deepening of the season. The last poem of the book, 442, sings of autumn departing on the final day of the ninth month, so that a book begun with showers closes with the end of autumn.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Fujibakama," is one of the seven flowers of autumn; because its name contains "hakama," trousers, it is likened to a garment.
In the second line, "nami" is the mi-construction meaning "since there is none," and "ya" is an interrogative particle: "is it because no one wears you?"
The third line, "tachinagara," means "while standing in the fields," echoing the cutting of cloth for trousers and serving as an associated word with "kiru," to wear.
The fourth line, "shigure no ame ni," means "by the rain of the autumn showers," the intermittent rains of late autumn and early winter.
In the last line, "some" is a pivot word meaning both "to begin" soaking and "to dye." "Ya" in the second line and the attributive "tsuru" form a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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