Odorokasu oto koso yoru no oyamada wa hito naki yori mo sabishikarikere - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

驚かす音こそ夜の小山田は
人なきよりも寂しかりけれ

Roma-ji: Odorokasu oto koso yoru no oyamada wa hito naki yori mo sabishikarikere
English Translation: The sound that startles
the beasts by night in the fields
of the little hills,
more than the absence of all
is lonely, I have found
Meaning: In the little fields among the hills at night, the sound made to startle the beasts is lonelier, I have found, than having no one there at all.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 326

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Hearing at night, in a small field among the hills, the clappers sounded to startle and drive off wild animals, the poet says that this very sound is lonelier than the complete absence of anyone. Through the paradox that a sound made by people stirs more loneliness than silence, the poem expresses the loneliness of the fields at night.
The author is given as "yomibito shirazu," meaning that the poet's name has not come down to us.
After the run of deer poems in this book come two poems on autumn fields. The next poem, 327, also sings of snipe rising "startled" at the sound of clappers, answering this poem's "odorokasu."

First line, "odorokasu": to startle and drive off birds and beasts with noise, referring to the clappers set in the fields. It pairs with "odorokite" in the next poem, 327, setting side by side the one who startles and the one startled.
Second line, "oto koso yoru no": the emphatic "koso" closes with the perfective form "kere" in the last line, stressing "that very sound."
Third line, "oyamada wa": "oyamada" is a small field among the hills.
Fourth line, "hito naki yori mo": "more than having no one there," comparing it with the silence of an empty place.
Fifth line, "sabishikarikere": closing the "koso" of the second line in the perfective form. "Keri" expresses realization, "it was lonelier after all."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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