ここにしも何匂ふらん女郎花
人の物言ひさがにくき世に
人の物言ひさがにくき世に
- Roma-ji
-
Koko ni shimo nani niouran ominaeshi hito no monoii saganikuki yo ni
- English Translation
-
Why here of all places
do you glow with lovely hues,
O maidenflowers,
in a world where people's tongues
wag so spitefully at all?
- Meaning
- Why, here of all places, do you bloom so lovely, maidenflowers, in a world where people's gossip is so spiteful?
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1098
Headnote: "When women came to see the garden plants of his quarters"
The poet asks why the maidenflowers should bloom so lovely here, of all places, in a world so full of spiteful gossip. The headnote shows it was composed when women came to see the plants in the garden of Henjō's quarters as a monk. Likening the visiting women to maidenflowers, he jokes that there is no telling what rumors may arise if women come to a monk's dwelling.
The author is the Archbishop Henjō, a grandson of Emperor Kanmu whose lay name was Yoshimine no Munesada. He took holy orders on the death of Emperor Ninmyō and later became archbishop. He is counted among both the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "koko ni shimo," means "here of all places," with "shimo" an emphatic particle stressing that this is a monk's dwelling.
Second line, "nani niouran," means "why do you bloom so lovely," with "ran" an auxiliary that conjectures a cause.
Third line, "ominaeshi," overlays the visiting women, and the poem breaks here. It shares the same word with the third lines of the preceding poem, 1097, and 1100 in this book, "ominaeshi."
Fourth line, "hito no monoii," means "people's gossip and meddling."
Final line, "saganikuki yo ni," means "in a world so spiteful," adding by inversion the reason for the second line.
- Author
- Henjō
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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