Orade yuku sode ni mo tsuyu zo koborekeru hagi no ha shigeki nobe no hosomichi

折らで行く袖にも露ぞこぼれける
萩の葉茂き野辺の細道

Roma-ji: Orade yuku sode ni mo tsuyu zo koborekeru hagi no ha shigeki nobe no hosomichi
English Translation: Though I pass along
not breaking off a branch, the dew
spills upon my sleeves:
where bush clover leaves grow thick
on the narrow moorland path.
Meaning: Even on my sleeves, as I pass by without breaking off a single spray, the dew has spilled, along this narrow path through the moor where the bush clover grows thick.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 267

Headnote: "Autumn flowers along the road"
The topic is autumn flowers seen while travelling along a road. Passing along a narrow path where the bush clover grows thick, without breaking off any flowers, the poet finds that even his sleeves are wet with spilled dew. It is natural for one who picks flowers to wet his sleeves, but here the bush clover is so dense and the dew so heavy that even one who does not pick them is soaked.
Following 264 and 265, this poem again pairs the dew on the bush clover with the sleeves, so the figure of one walking a path thick with bush clover is drawn once more.

First line, “orade yuku”: de is a negative conjunctive particle, passing by without breaking off the flowers.
Second line, “sode ni mo tsuyu zo”: mo implies not only the sleeves of those who pick; zo forms a kakari-musubi with keru in the third line.
Third line, “koborekeru”: the attributive form answering zo, expressing the realization that dew has spilled; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “hagi no ha shigeki”: the leaves of the bush clover grow thick, giving the reason for the heavy dew.
Fifth line, “nobe no hosomichi”: ending on a noun, the narrow path through the moor that answers the topic's road.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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