classic waka stream

糸薄縫はれて鹿の臥す野辺に
ほころびやすき藤袴かな
Roma-ji

Itosusuki nuwarete shika no fusu nobe ni hokorobiyasuki fujibakama kana

English Translation
Threaded pampas grass
stitches round the resting deer
on the open moor,
where so readily unseams
the bloom of the purple mistflower.
Meaning
On the moor where the deer lie as if sewn in among slender, thread-like pampas grass, the mistflower, so quick to come apart at the seams, is bursting into bloom.
Commentary
Autumn Poems 266

Headnote: "On the topic of autumn flowers coming into their season"
The topic asks for the flowers of autumn coming into their prime. On the moor where the deer lie as though sewn in among the thread-like pampas grass, the fujibakama, quick to open its buds, is in bloom. The flowers of the moor at their height are pictured through the images of thread sewing a garment and the seams of a hakama.
Ito, thread, nuu, to sew, hokorobu, to come unsewn, and hakama are linked as associated words, building the scene of the moor out of the language of needlework. After the bush clover of the poems before, pampas grass and fujibakama are taken up, and the range of autumn flowers widens.

First line, “itosusuki”: pampas grass with leaves and plumes as fine as thread; ito is associated with nuu in the second line, hokorobu in the fourth and hakama in the last.
Second line, “nuwarete shika no”: nuwarete, as if sewn in among the grass, likens the deer wrapped in the pampas thicket to needlework.
Third line, “fusu nobe ni”: on the moor where the deer lie down.
Fourth line, “hokorobiyasuki”: hokorobu is a pivot word meaning both for buds to open and for seams to come apart, tied to the hakama of fujibakama.
Fifth line, “fujibakama kana”: fujibakama is one of the seven flowers of autumn, and kana expresses wonder at the flowers opening in their prime.
Author
Saigyō
Source
Sankashu
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