秋来れば機織る虫のあるなへに
唐錦にも見ゆる野辺かな
唐錦にも見ゆる野辺かな
- Roma-ji
-
Aki kureba hata oru mushi no aru nae ni karanishiki ni mo miyuru nobe kana
- English Translation
-
When autumn arrives,
as the loom-weaving insects
make their dwelling there,
looking like Chinese brocade,
how splendid the fields appear!
- Meaning
- When autumn comes, along with the insects that weave like a loom, the fields too look as if woven into Chinese brocade.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 180
Headnote: "For a folding screen"
When autumn comes and the loom-weaving insects begin to sing, the fields where flowers of every color bloom look as if woven into Chinese brocade. Drawing brocade from the insect's name, the poem wittily praises the colors of the autumn fields. According to the headnote, it was written to accompany a folding screen.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its Kana Preface and the Tosa Diary, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "aki kureba," means "when autumn comes," with "ba" expressing a habitual condition.
Second line, "hata oru mushi no," refers to an insect whose voice sounds like weaving at a loom, thought to be a kind of katydid. Following the bell cricket of the preceding poem, it again finds its conceit in an insect's name.
Third line, "aru nae ni," means "along with their being there," with "nae ni" expressing two things happening together.
Fourth line, "karanishiki ni mo," means "like Chinese brocade," a word associated with "hata oru" (weaving) in the second line. Before the autumn leaves are likened to brocade from 196 of this book onward, here the flowering fields are likened to brocade.
Final line, "miyuru nobe kana," means "how the fields appear," with the exclamatory particle "kana."
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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