Yamazato no sotomo no oka no takaki ki ni sozorogamashiki akisemi no koe

山里の外面の岡の高き木に
そぞろがましき秋蝉の声

Roma-ji: Yamazato no sotomo no oka no takaki ki ni sozorogamashiki akisemi no koe
English Translation: In the mountain home,
on the hill behind the house,
in a tall old tree,
restless, rising, falling on,
autumn's cicada sings.
Meaning: In a tall tree on the hill behind a house in the mountain village, the autumn cicadas are singing in restless clamor.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 295

Headnote: "When people went to a mountain village and composed autumn poems"
The headnote tells us this poem was composed when a group went out to a mountain village and wrote poems on autumn. In a tall tree on the hill behind a house in the village, the autumn cicadas sing in restless clamor. The poem catches their voices ringing out in the quiet of the mountain village.
Where the poems before spoke from within of the loneliness of autumn dusk and night, this one records the voices of autumn cicadas heard by the ear, turning the eye to a concrete scene in the mountain village.

First line, “yamazato no”: of the mountain village, answering the headnote.
Second line, “sotomo no oka no”: sotomo is the back of a house, of the hill behind the house.
Third line, “takaki ki ni”: in a tall tree on the hill, where the cicadas sing.
Fourth line, “sozorogamashiki”: restless and noisy, the busy sound of the autumn cicadas.
Fifth line, “akisemi no koe”: ending on a noun, the voices of cicadas singing in autumn.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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