心をば千草の色に染むれども
袖に移るは萩が花摺り
袖に移るは萩が花摺り
- Roma-ji
-
Kokoro o ba chigusa no iro ni somuredomo sode ni utsuru wa hagi ga hanazuri
- English Translation
-
Though my heart is dyed
in the colors of the thousand
grasses of the fields,
what is printed on my sleeves
is the bush clover's hue
- Meaning
- Though my heart is dyed in the colors of the countless autumn grasses, the color that transfers onto my sleeves is that of the bush clover alone.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems I 250
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poet's heart is dyed in the many colors of the countless grasses of the fields, yet the only color that actually transfers onto his sleeves is the print of the bush clover. Though his heart is drawn to many autumn grasses, he declares that it is the bush clover that leaves its color on the body, praising it as special among them. The poems on bush clover end here.
The author, "Priest Chōkaku," was a monk whose life is not well known.
"Hanazuri" is the practice of rubbing flowers onto cloth to transfer their color, and bush clover had long been sung of as a flower for printing robes.
First line, "kokoro o ba": "o ba" emphasizes the object, "as for my heart," paired with the "sleeves" that follow.
Second line, "chigusa no iro ni": "chigusa" are the countless grasses and flowers of the autumn fields. Poem 262 of this book uses the same line.
Third line, "somuredomo": "domo" is concessive: "though my heart is dyed."
Fourth line, "sode ni utsuru wa": "what transfers onto my sleeves," setting the visible "sleeves" against the "heart" of the first line.
Fifth line, "hagi ga hanazuri": ends on a noun, the color of bush clover rubbed onto cloth. Naming only bush clover out of the countless grasses, it closes the poems on bush clover.
- Author
- Chōkaku
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Miyagino no hagi ya ojika no tsuma naran hana sakishi yori koe no iro naru
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Tsuyu shigeki ashita no hara no ominaeshi hitoeda oran sode wa nuru tomo