佐保姫の糸染めかくる青柳を
吹きな乱りそ春の山風
吹きな乱りそ春の山風
- Roma-ji
-
Sahohime no ito somekakuru aoyagi o fuki na midari so haru no yamakaze
- English Translation
-
Lady Saho dyes
threads and hangs them out to dry
on the green willow;
do not blow them into tangles,
O mountain wind of spring.
- Meaning
- Do not blow and tangle the green willow, where Lady Saho has hung her freshly dyed threads, O mountain wind of spring.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 14
Likening the willow's branches to threads dyed and hung by Lady Saho, goddess of spring, the poet calls on the mountain wind not to tangle them. The supple green branches are beautifully pictured as the handiwork of the goddess.
Here begin three poems on the green willow.
The first line, "Lady Saho," is the goddess of spring, a deification of Mount Saho at Nara, paired with Lady Tatsuta of autumn.
The second line, "dyes threads and hangs them," likens the willow's branches to threads.
The third line, "the green willow," is the willow just in bud, a word shared with the last line of the next poem, "the green willow's threads."
The fourth line, "do not blow them into tangles," is a prohibition framed by "na" and "so."
The last line, "mountain wind of spring," ends on a noun, placing the one addressed at the very end.
- Author
- Taira no Kanemori
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Moeizuru kusaba nomi ka wa Ogasawara koma no keshiki mo harumekinikeri
- Next Poem
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Ikanareba kōri wa tokuru harukaze ni musubohoruramu aoyagi no ito