春日野の荻の焼け原あさるとも
見えぬなき名をおほすなるかな
見えぬなき名をおほすなるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Kasugano no ogi no yakehara asaru tomo mienu naki na o ōsu naru kana
- English Translation
-
Though one were to search
the burnt fields of reed that lie
on Kasuga's plain,
nothing would be found, and yet
you lay a false name upon me.
- Meaning
- Just as one might search the burnt reed fields of Kasugano and find nothing, you lay upon me a rumor that has no ground at all.
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1020
Headnote: "Sent to a man who stopped visiting on hearing that she was seeing someone else"
The poet says that, as one might search the burnt field of Kasugano and find nothing at all, he lays on her a groundless rumor. The headnote shows it was sent to a man who stopped visiting her on hearing that she was close to another man. Bringing up the burnt field after the spring burning, where nothing can hide, she reproaches the man for his misunderstanding, saying there is nothing to suspect.
The author, Chūgū no Naishi, was a palace attendant who served the empress, of whom little is known.
First line, "Kasugano no," means "of Kasugano" in Yamato, a famous poetic place known for the burning of fields and the gathering of young greens.
Second line, "ogi no yakehara," means "the burnt reed field," a field with nothing left to hide in.
Third line, "asaru tomo," means "though one searches it," with "tomo" expressing a concessive supposition.
Fourth line, "mienu naki na o," means "a groundless rumor with nothing to be seen."
Final line, "ōsu naru kana," means "you lay it upon me, I hear," with "naru" an auxiliary of hearsay and inference and "kana" exclamatory.
- Author
- Chūgū no Naishi
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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