池の面に影をさやかに映しても
水鏡見る女郎花かな
水鏡見る女郎花かな
- Roma-ji
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Ike no omo ni kage o sayaka ni utsushite mo mizukagami miru ominaeshi kana
- English Translation
-
On the pond's surface
casting so clear an image
of herself, she gazes
in a mirror made of water,
the lovely maidenflower.
- Meaning
- Casting her reflection clearly on the surface of the pond, the maidenflower seems to be gazing into a mirror of water.
- Commentary
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Autumn Poems 282
Headnote: "Maidenflower by the water"
The topic is the maidenflower growing beside water. The maidenflower at the edge of a pond casts its form clearly on the water, like a woman looking at herself in a mirror of water. The view of the maidenflower as a woman is extended to the image of a woman at her toilette.
The next poem, on the same topic, also likens the pond to a mirror in which the flower sees itself, so the two poems form a pair.
First line, “ike no omo ni”: a hypermetric line of six syllables, on the surface of the pond.
Second line, “kage o sayaka ni”: kage is form or image, and sayaka ni means clearly.
Third line, “utsushite mo”: reflecting its form on the water, with mo adding feeling.
Fourth line, “mizukagami miru”: mizukagami is using the water's surface as a mirror, likening the flower to a woman before her mirror.
Fifth line, “ominaeshi kana”: the closing line repeated through the maidenflower poems since 278, ending with kana.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
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Oranu yori sode zo nurenuru ominaeshi tsuyu musuborete tateru keshiki ni
- Next Poem
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Tagui naki hana no sugata o ominaeshi ike no kagami ni utsushite zo miru