いかなれば上葉を渡る秋風に
下折れすらむ野辺の刈萱
下折れすらむ野辺の刈萱
- Roma-ji
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Ika nareba uwaba o wataru akikaze ni shitaore suran nobe no karukaya
- English Translation
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Why should it be so?
In the autumn wind that crosses
only the upper leaves,
from below it bends and breaks,
the kaya grass of the fields
- Meaning
- Why is it that the kaya grass of the fields bends and breaks from below in the autumn wind that crosses only its upper leaves?
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems I 246
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The autumn wind merely crosses the upper leaves, so why, the poet asks, does the kaya grass of the fields bend and break from below? By posing the puzzle that the grass breaks not above, where the wind strikes, but below, the poem portrays the fragile, easily tangled kaya.
The author is unknown, and the poem is included as anonymous.
Poem 243 of this book depicts kaya grass that bends first from below in the wind blowing over the tops of the grasses, a scene that answers this poem's question. The two poems pair with each other, sharing "shitaoru" and the last line "nobe no karukaya," and the poems on kaya grass end here.
First line, "ika nareba": "for what reason," posing the question that the first three lines lead to.
Second line, "uwaba o wataru": "uwaba" are the upper leaves of the grass, showing that the wind crosses above. It answers "kusaba no ue o" in 243 of this book.
Third line, "akikaze ni": "by the autumn wind."
Fourth line, "shitaore suran": "shitaore" is bending from below, and "ramu" is present conjecture asking for a cause, setting the wind above against the breaking below. It uses the same word as "mazu shitaoruru" in 243 of this book.
Fifth line, "nobe no karukaya": ends on a noun, the same final line as 243 of this book, placing the subject last to name what the question is about.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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