八重葎茂れる宿は夜もすがら
虫の音聞くぞ取り所なる
虫の音聞くぞ取り所なる
- Roma-ji
-
Yaemugura shigereru yado wa yomosugara mushi no ne kiku zo toridokoro naru
- English Translation
-
Where the tangled weeds
grow thick around my dwelling,
all the long night
to hear the insects singing:
that alone is its one merit
- Meaning
- My dwelling overgrown with tangled weeds has only one merit: all night long I can listen to the insects sing.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 119
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to the monk Eigen.
A ruined house thick with weeds has no visitors and nothing to recommend it, except that one can listen to the insects all night. The poem turns the loneliness of a desolate dwelling into consolation through the insects' song.
The first line, "yaemugura," is weeds growing in thick layers, a symbol of a ruined house.
The second line, "shigereru yado wa," means "the dwelling where they grow thick."
The third line, "yomosugara," means "all night long."
The fourth line, "mushi no ne kiku zo," means "hearing the insects," with zo resolved by the attributive naru in the last line.
The last line, "toridokoro naru," means "is its merit," closing with the one good point of the ruined house.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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