Hana o koso nobe no mono to wa mi ni kitsure kurureba mushi no ne o mo kikikeri

花をこそ野辺のものとは見に来つれ
暮るれば虫の音をも聞きけり

Roma-ji: Hana o koso nobe no mono to wa mi ni kitsure kurureba mushi no ne o mo kikikeri
English Translation: It was flowers alone
I had come to see as what
the moor had to show,
yet with dusk I found I heard
the voices of insects too.
Meaning: I came to see the flowers, thinking they were what the moor had to offer, but as the day grew dark I found myself listening to the insects' voices as well.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 298

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When people composed ten autumn poems each"
This is the third poem in the set of ten. The poet came to the moor to see the flowers, thinking that flowers were what belonged to it, but as the day darkened he found himself hearing the voices of the insects too. Besides the flowers of the day, he discovers an unexpected pleasure of the autumn moor in the insects singing at dusk.
After the poems on grasses and flowers, insect voices join here, and the book widens its attention from flowers seen with the eye to insects heard with the ear.

First line, “hana o koso”: koso is emphatic, forming a kakari-musubi with kitsure in the third line and singling out the flowers.
Second line, “nobe no mono to wa”: as what belongs to the moor, as its chief sight.
Third line, “mi ni kitsure”: the perfective form of tsu answering koso; the koso construction implies a contrast that carries into the following lines.
Fourth line, “kurureba mushi no”: when it grows dark, the insects', the perfective form with ba.
Fifth line, “ne o mo kikikeri”: mo means not only the flowers but the insects' voices too, and keri expresses realization.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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