Kurenai no iro narinagara tade no ho no karashi ya hito no me ni mo tatenu wa

紅の色なりながら蓼の穂の
からしや人の目にも立てぬは

Roma-ji: Kurenai no iro narinagara tade no ho no karashi ya hito no me ni mo tatenu wa
English Translation: Crimson though they are,
the spikes of the water pepper,
how sharp, how bitter,
that no one ever turns
an eye their way at all.
Meaning: Though crimson in color, how bitter it is, like the pungent spike of the water pepper, that no one even turns an eye to it.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1016

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Though crimson in color, the spikes of the water pepper are given no glance by anyone, and how bitter that is, the poet says. Water pepper is a pungent plant that bears crimson spikes yet is never admired as a flower, and its sharpness is laid over the bitterness of being overlooked.

First line, “kurenai no”: of crimson.
Second line, “iro narinagara”: nagara is concessive, though such is its color.
Third line, “tade no ho no”: tade, water pepper, is a pungent plant with crimson spikes.
Fourth line, “karashi ya hito no”: karashi is a pivot word joining the pepper's sharpness and bitter pain; ya is exclamatory.
Fifth line, “me ni mo tatenu wa”: that no one turns an eye to it; tate echoes the sound of tade in the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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