Midare saku nobe no hagiwara wakekurete tsuyu ni mo sode o sometekeru kana

乱れ咲く野辺の萩原分け暮れて
露にも袖を染めてけるかな

Roma-ji: Midare saku nobe no hagiwara wakekurete tsuyu ni mo sode o sometekeru kana
English Translation: Through the moorland field
where bush clover blooms in tangles,
till the day was gone,
even by the dew my sleeves
have been dyed in its colors.
Meaning: I wandered through the fields where bush clover blooms in wild profusion until the day grew dark, and even by its dew my sleeves have been dyed with its colors.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 269

Headnote: "Gazing all day at the flowers of the moor"
The topic is spending the whole day looking at the flowers of the moor. Wandering through fields of bush clover blooming in tangles until the day grew dark, the poet finds that the color of the flowers has passed with the dew onto his sleeves and dyed them. A day spent absorbed in flowers is shown through the dyed sleeves.
The idea of the bush clover's dew passing onto the sleeves echoes 264 and 267, where dew falls on the sleeves. Here the dew not only wets the sleeves but goes so far as to dye them with the color of the flowers.

First line, “midare saku”: the bush clover blooming in a tangle.
Second line, “nobe no hagiwara”: a moor thick with bush clover.
Third line, “wakekurete”: pushing through until the day grew dark, answering the topic's all day.
Fourth line, “tsuyu ni mo sode o”: mo implies not only by gazing but by the dew as well.
Fifth line, “sometekeru kana”: te is perfective, keru the attributive of the exclamatory keri, and kana an exclamation, closing on wonder that even the sleeves are dyed.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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