分けわびて厭ひし庭の蓬生も
かれぬと思ふはあはれなりけり
かれぬと思ふはあはれなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Wakewabite itoishi niwa no yomogiu mo karenu to omou wa aware narikeri
- English Translation
-
Hard to push through,
I once disliked the mugwort
that filled my garden,
yet to think it has withered
and all are gone moves me so
- Meaning
- Even the mugwort in my garden, which I once disliked for being hard to push through, now that I think it has withered and visitors have gone, moves me deeply.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1145
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Even the mugwort of my garden, which I disliked as hard to push through, moves me when I think it has withered, he says. The mugwort that once grew thick and troubled those who passed, and that he found tiresome, now that it has withered in winter seems all the more touching. "Kare" joins "kare," to wither, said of the mugwort, and "kare," to grow distant, said of visitors, laying over the loneliness of the ruined garden the solitude of one whom no one visits any longer.
The author, "Hōgen Kenkaku," was a monk of the late Heian period who held the rank of hōgen. His biography is not known in detail.
It shares the scene of a neglected garden with 1102 of this book, which sings of a ruined palace overgrown with weeds.
First line, "wakewabite": "troubled to push through."
Second line, "itoishi niwa no": "of the garden I disliked."
Third line, "yomogiu mo": "even the overgrown mugwort." It shares the weeds of a neglected dwelling with "mugura no kado o" in the fourth line of 1102 of this book.
Fourth line, "karenu to omou wa": "kare" is a pivot word joining "kare," withered, and "kare," grown distant, overlapping the withered mugwort with the end of visits.
Fifth line, "aware narikeri": "keri" is exclamatory, "how deeply moving it is."
- Author
- Kenkaku
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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