花のみな散りてののちぞ山里の
払はぬ庭は見るべかりける
払はぬ庭は見るべかりける
- Roma-ji
-
Hana no mina chirite no nochi zo yamazato no harawanu niwa wa mirubekarikeru
- English Translation
-
Only after all
the blossoms have fallen
is the mountain hamlet's
unswept garden truly
something one should see
- Meaning
- It is only after all the blossoms have fallen that one should see the unswept garden of a mountain hamlet.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Spring Poems II 101
Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Falling Blossoms at a Mountain Dwelling'"
Composed on the topic "Falling Blossoms at a Mountain Dwelling." Only after all the blossoms have fallen, the poet says, should one look at the unswept garden of a mountain hamlet. In such a garden, with no visitors and no one to tend it, fallen petals lie spread just as they fell. The poem expresses the discovery that the charm of the mountain village lies less in full bloom than in a garden buried in fallen blossoms.
The author, "Former Major Counselor Toshizane," is Minamoto no Toshizane, son of Provisional Major Counselor Minamoto no Takatoshi, who rose to Major Counselor.
First line, "hana no mina": "the blossoms, all of them."
Second line, "chirite no nochi zo": the emphatic "zo" links with "keru" in the last line: "only after they fall." The next poem, 102, with "chirinuru nochi wa," also speaks of the time after the blossoms have fallen.
Third line, "yamazato no": modifies "niwa" in the fourth line, a dwelling in a remote mountain hamlet.
Fourth line, "harawanu niwa wa": "harawanu" means "not swept," a garden left untended because no one visits, still carpeted with fallen blossoms.
Fifth line, "mirubekarikeru": "bekari" expresses what ought to be and "keru," the attributive of "keri," closes with "zo," conveying the belated realization that this is what one should see.
- Author
- Minamoto no Toshizane
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yamakaze ni chiritsumu hana no nagarezu wa ikade shiramashi tani no shitamizu
- Next Poem
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Furusato wa hana koso itodo shinobarure chirinuru nochi wa tou hito mo nashi