Oyamada no io chikaku naku shika no ne ni odorokasarete odorokasu kana

小山田の庵近く鳴く鹿の音に
驚かされて驚かすかな

Roma-ji: Oyamada no io chikaku naku shika no ne ni odorokasarete odorokasu kana
English Translation: In the hillside fields,
by the deer's cry near the hut
startled from my sleep,
I in turn now startle them,
rattling to drive them away.
Meaning: Startled awake by the call of a deer close to my hut in the hillside paddies, I in turn startle the deer away.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 440

Headnote: "Deer near a hut in the paddies"
The topic is hearing deer from a watch hut in the paddies. Woken with a start by a deer calling right by the hut where the poet guards the hillside paddy, he in turn rattles the clappers to startle and drive off the deer that would ravage the field. It is a poem that makes the most of the play of words in which the startled one turns to startling.
Repeating the same verb in passive and active, odorokasarete odorokasu, it shows the roles of deer and man reversing. It is a scene of farm life that also echoes 303, with the sound of the clappers in the hillside paddies.

First line, “oyamada no”: of the small paddy in the hills, with o as a prefix.
Second line, “io chikaku naku”: calling near the hut that guards the paddy.
Third line, “shika no ne ni”: by the deer's call.
Fourth line, “odorokasarete”: odorokasu is to wake or startle; in the passive, woken by the deer's call.
Fifth line, “odorokasu kana”: in turn I startle the deer and drive it off, repeating the same verb in the active voice and closing with kana.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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