植ゑて去にし人も見なくに秋萩の
誰見よとかは花の咲きけむ
誰見よとかは花の咲きけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Uete inishi hito mo minaku ni akihagi no tare miyo to ka wa hana no sakikemu
- English Translation
-
Though the one who planted
and went away will not see,
the autumn bush clover—
for whom, telling them to look,
has it put forth its flowers?
- Meaning
- Though the one who planted it and went away will not see it, for whom, bidding them look, has the autumn bush clover come into bloom?
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Names of Things 379
Headnote: "Yodokawa (Yodo River)"
The poet wonders for whom the autumn bush clover has bloomed, since the one who planted it and went away will no longer see it. Singing of the sadness of flowers with no one to see them, the poem hides the name of the Yodo River given in the headnote in the run of sounds "miyo to ka wa" in the fourth line. The headnote names the thing hidden in the poem.
Ariwara no Motokata was a son of Ariwara no Muneyana and a grandson of Ariwara no Narihira. He is known as the author of "Toshi no uchi ni haru wa kinikeri," the opening poem of the Kokinshū.
First line, "uete inishi," means "who planted and went away," and has six syllables, one more than the norm.
Second line, "hito mo minaku ni," means "though that person will not see," with "naku ni" expressing concession.
Third line, "akihagi no," means "the autumn bush clover." The name of the bush clover is also sung of in 368 of this book.
Fourth line, "tare miyo to ka wa," means "for whom to see," with "ka wa" expressing a question. "Yo to ka wa" hides the name "Yodogawa." The next poem, 380, is on the same topic, so two poems on the Yodo River stand together.
Final line, "hana no sakikemu," means "did it bloom," with "kemu" an auxiliary of past conjecture, resolving "ka" in its attributive form.
- Author
- Ariwara no Motokata
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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