朝な朝な露重げなる萩が枝に
心をさへもかけて見るかな
心をさへもかけて見るかな
- Roma-ji
-
Asana asana tsuyu omoge naru hagi ga e ni kokoro o sae mo kakete miru kana
- English Translation
-
Morning after morning
on the bush clover branches
heavy with the dew,
even this heart of mine
I hang there as I gaze
- Meaning
- Morning after morning, on the bush clover branches bowed with heavy dew, I hang even my heart as I gaze upon them.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 116
Headnote: "Composed when Retired Emperor Shirakawa held a garden-plant contest at the Toba Palace"
Suō no Naishi composed this for a garden-plant contest held by Retired Emperor Shirakawa at the Toba Palace. In such contests the plants of a garden were divided into two sides and judged against each other.
She gazes so intently at the bush clover branches bending under the dew that she hangs her very heart on them. The graceful layering of dew hanging on the branches and a heart hung on them conveys her love of the bush clover.
The first line, "asana asana," means "every morning," showing that she gazes again and again.
The second line, "tsuyu omoge naru," means "heavy with dew."
The third line, "hagi ga e ni," means "on the branches of bush clover," a representative flower of autumn.
The fourth line, "kokoro o sae mo," means "even my heart," not only the dew, sae expressing addition.
In the last line, "kakete miru kana," kaku is a pivot word meaning both that dew hangs and that she sets her heart, closing with the exclamatory kana.
- Author
- Suo no Naishi
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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