類なき花の姿を女郎花
池の鏡に映してぞ見る
池の鏡に映してぞ見る
- Roma-ji
-
Tagui naki hana no sugata o ominaeshi ike no kagami ni utsushite zo miru
- English Translation
-
That peerless beauty,
her own form in flower, she,
the maidenflower,
in the mirror of the pond
holds reflected and admires.
- Meaning
- The maidenflower holds up her own peerless form in the mirror of the pond and gazes at it.
- Commentary
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Autumn Poems 283
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Maidenflower by the water"
This poem continues the topic of the preceding one. The maidenflower reflects her own incomparably lovely form in the water of the pond as in a mirror and gazes at it. She is likened to a woman looking at her own beauty in a mirror.
Restating mizukagami in the preceding poem as ike no kagami, the pond's mirror, this poem repeats the same idea. Where the preceding poem dwelt on the act of reflecting, this one places its weight on the peerless beauty of the form reflected.
First line, “tagui naki”: without equal, praising the form of the flower in the second line.
Second line, “hana no sugata o”: the form of the maidenflower, object of miru in the last line.
Third line, “ominaeshi”: the subject of the following lines, its order inverted with hana no sugata o.
Fourth line, “ike no kagami ni”: the pond's surface likened to a mirror, corresponding to mizukagami in the preceding poem.
Fifth line, “utsushite zo miru”: zo is answered by the attributive miru, stressing that she reflects her form and gazes upon it.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
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Ike no omo ni kage o sayaka ni utsushite mo mizukagami miru ominaeshi kana
- Next Poem
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Ominaeshi ike no sazanami ni e hichite mono omou sode no nururu kao naru