夕されば小野の浅茅生玉散りて
心くだくる風の音かな
心くだくる風の音かな
- Roma-ji
-
Yūsareba ono no asajiu tama chirite kokoro kudakuru kaze no oto kana
- English Translation
-
When evening falls
in the field of cogon grass
the jewels scatter,
and my heart is shattered too
by the sound of the wind
- Meaning
- When evening falls, the dewdrop jewels scatter over the cogon grass of the field, and the sound of the wind shatters my heart.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems I 272
Headnote: "Composed as an autumn poem"
Composed on "autumn." As evening falls, the jewels of dew on the cogon grass of the field scatter in the wind, and at the sound of that wind the poet's heart shatters as the jewels do. Overlaying scattering dewdrops with a breaking heart, the poem expresses the deep sorrow that the sound of the wind brings on an autumn evening.
The author, "the Regent and Former Minister of the Right," is Kujō Kanezane, son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Tadamichi. After serving as Minister of the Right he became Regent, holding that office when the Senzai Wakashū was compiled, and he left the diary Gyokuyō.
This poem and the next, 273, were both composed as "autumn poems."
First line, "yūsareba": "when evening comes." Poems 255 and 259 of this book open with the same line on autumn evenings.
Second line, "ono no asajiu": "ono" means a field, with "o" a prefix, and "asajiu" a place covered with low cogon grass. It is the same word as "asajiu no" in 227 of this book.
Third line, "tama chirite": the "jewels" are drops of dew. As 265 of this book saw dew as Princess Tatsuta's jewels, this poem sees dew as jewels.
Fourth line, "kokoro kudakuru": "kudaku" means for the heart to break or be thrown into turmoil, an associated word with "tama chirite" in the third line.
Fifth line, "kaze no oto kana": "kana" is exclamatory, naming at last the sound of the wind as what scatters the dew and breaks the heart.
- Author
- Kujō Kanezane
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ima wa shimo ho ni idenuran Azumaji no Iwata no ono no shino no osusuki
- Next Poem
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Tokiwa naru aoba no yama mo aki kureba iro koso kaene sabishikarikeri