子の日すと春の野ごとに尋ぬれば
松にひかるる心地こそすれ
松にひかるる心地こそすれ
- Roma-ji
-
Nenohi su to haru no nogoto ni tazunureba matsu ni hikaruru kokochi koso sure
- English Translation
-
To keep the Rat Day
from spring moor to spring moor
I go seeking out,
and I feel as if the pines
were the ones drawing me on.
- Meaning
- Going from one spring moor to the next to celebrate the Day of the Rat, I feel as though it is not I who pull the pines, but the pines that draw me on.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 8
The poet, going from moor to moor to pull young pines on the Rat Day, reverses the custom and feels drawn along by the pines themselves. The wit of seeing the pine pull the person shows the delight of a spring outing in the fields.
After the preceding poem, in which a person is drawn forth as an example, this one pairs with it through the conceit of being drawn by the pines.
The first line, "to keep the Rat Day," means intending to hold the Rat Day outing; taking up the fourth line of the preceding poem, the poems on the custom continue.
In the second line, "goto" means each in turn, showing the poet going round one moor after another.
The third line, "I go seeking out," is a definite condition with the realis plus "ba," meaning as I visit them.
The fourth line, "drawing me on," is a pivot word meaning both being drawn in heart toward the pines and the "pulling" of the pine-pulling custom; the passive "ruru" echoes "hikarureba" in the third line of the preceding poem.
The last line, "I feel," closes a kakari-musubi with "koso" and the realis "sure."
- Author
- Retired Emperor Sutoku
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yorozuyo no tameshi ni kimi ga hikarureba nenohi no matsu mo urayami ya semu
- Next Poem
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Fukikureba ka o natsukashimi ume no hana chirasanu hodo no harukaze mo gana