明日からは若菜摘まむと片岡の
朝の原は今日ぞ焼くめる
朝の原は今日ぞ焼くめる
- Roma-ji
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Asu kara wa wakana tsumamu to kataoka no ashita no hara wa kyō zo yakumeru
- English Translation
-
From tomorrow on
to pick the young spring greens there,
on Kataoka
the plain of Ashita, it seems,
is being burned today.
- Meaning
- So that the young greens may be picked from tomorrow, it seems the plain of Ashita at Kataoka is being burned today.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 18
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
In preparation for gathering young greens from tomorrow, the poet surmises, the fields of Ashita no Hara in Kataoka are being burned today. Seeing the smoke of the burning from afar, the poem looks ahead to the season of picking greens close at hand.
The author, written as Hitomaro, is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. Active as a court poet chiefly in the reign of Empress Jitō, he was later revered as the saint of poetry and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "asu kara wa," looks ahead to gathering greens from tomorrow on.
Second line, "wakana tsumamu to," with "mu" expressing intention, means "intending to pick young greens." It is the starting point of the young-greens poems that follow, 19, 20 and 26.
Third line, "kataoka no," is a place name in Yamato, the hills where Ashita no Hara lies.
Fourth line, "ashita no hara wa," names the same place as poem 7 of this book. The plain that lay under snow in poem 7 has here become a place of field burning, marking the progress of the season.
Final line, "kyō zo yakumeru," uses "meri," an auxiliary of inference based on sight: seeing smoke in the distance, the poet surmises that the fields are being burned. It closes in the attributive "meru" in response to "zo."
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Shirotae no imo ga koromo ni ume no hana iro o mo ka o mo waki zo kanetsuru
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Nobe mireba wakana tsumikeri ube shi koso kakine no kusa mo harumekinikere