萩の葉にすがく糸をもささがには
たなばたにとや今朝は引くらむ
たなばたにとや今朝は引くらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Hagi no ha ni sugaku ito o mo sasagani wa tanabata ni to ya kesa wa hikuramu
- English Translation
-
On the bush clover
even the threads it weaves:
is it that the spider
for the Weaver Maid
is drawing them out this morning?
- Meaning
- Is the spider drawing out even the threads it spins on the bush clover leaves this morning as an offering to the Weaver Maid?
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 84
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to Tachibana no Mototō. Seeing a spider stringing its web on bush clover leaves on the morning of Tanabata, the poet imagines it, too, is offering thread to the Weaver Maid.
At Tanabata people offered thread and cloth to the Weaver Maid, and the charm lies in laying that custom over the small work of a spider. With this poem the Tanabata sequence begins.
The first line, "hagi no ha ni," means "on the leaves of bush clover," an autumn plant, setting the scene in a garden at Tanabata. It is the first poem of the Tanabata sequence.
The second line, "sugaku ito o mo," means "even the threads it spins," with mo implying that not only people but even the spider takes part.
The third line, "sasagani wa," is an old word for spider and the subject of the poem.
The fourth line, "tanabata ni to ya," means "is it for the Weaver Maid?" The particle ya marks a question, answered by ramu in the last line.
The last line, "kesa wa hikuramu," conjectures, "is it drawing them out this morning?" The poem closes by likening the spider's thread to the Tanabata offering of thread.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kimi sumaba towamashi mono o Tsu no kuni no Ikuta no mori no aki no hatsukaze
- Next Poem
-
Tanabata ni koromo mo nugite kasubeki ni yuyushi to ya mimu sumizome no sode