Yūtsuyu o haraeba sode ni tama kiete michi wakekanuru ono no hagiwara

夕露を払へば袖に玉消えて
道分けかぬる小野の萩原

Roma-ji: Yūtsuyu o haraeba sode ni tama kiete michi wakekanuru ono no hagiwara
English Translation: When I brush away
evening dew, upon my sleeves
the jewels vanish,
and I cannot part a path
through the bush clover meadow.
Meaning: When I brush off the evening dew, the jewels of it vanish on my sleeves, and I can hardly make my way through this field of bush clover.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 264

Headnote: "On the topic of autumn flowers blocking the way"
The topic asks for autumn grasses and flowers barring the path. Trying to pass through a field of bush clover, the poet brushes off the evening dew on the plants that block his way, and the jewels of dew vanish on his sleeves. Loath to scatter such lovely dew, and hemmed in by the thick bush clover, he can hardly make his way forward.
From here a series of poems on autumn flowers follows, taking up bush clover, pampas grass and maidenflower in turn. This poem begins the series with the figure of one who stops on a path overgrown with bush clover.

First line, “yūtsuyu o”: the dew that settles on grasses in the evening.
Second line, “haraeba sode ni”: the perfective form with ba, when I brush it, onto my sleeves.
Third line, “tama kiete”: tama are the jewels of dew; dew that was like jewels on the leaves loses its shape when brushed onto the sleeves.
Fourth line, “michi wakekanuru”: kanu means unable to, so the poet cannot push his way through the bush clover that blocks the path, matching the topic's blocking the way.
Fifth line, “ono no hagiwara”: the poem ends on a noun, a field thick with bush clover; o in ono is a prefix that smooths the rhythm.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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