古里に変はらざりけり鈴虫の
なるみの野辺の夕暮の声
なるみの野辺の夕暮の声
- Roma-ji
-
Furusato ni kawarazarikeri suzumushi no Narumi no nobe no yūgure no koe
- English Translation
-
Unchanged from home,
so I find it to be:
of the bell cricket
ringing on the plain of Narumi,
the voice at evening
- Meaning
- It is no different from what I heard at home: the evening voice of the bell crickets ringing on the plain of Narumi.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 121
Headnote: "Composed on bell crickets singing in the fields"
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to Tachibana no Tamenaka. It depicts bell crickets singing in the fields.
Hearing bell crickets on the plain of Narumi in Owari while traveling, he notices that their voice is the same as at home and thinks of his native place. Joining naru, to ring, with the place name Narumi, he binds the poem together through the bell.
The first line, "furusato ni," means "from what I heard at home," thinking of home from a journey.
The second line, "kawarazarikeri," exclaims "it has not changed," and the poem pauses here, with the subject following in inverted order.
The third line, "suzumushi no," is the insect whose autumn call sounds like a shaken bell.
In the fourth line, "Narumi no nobe no," Narumi is a pivot word joining naru, the ringing of a bell, and the place name Narumi in Owari, an associated word with the bell cricket.
The last line, "yūgure no koe," ends on a noun, presenting the cricket's voice with the loneliness of evening.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Naku mushi no hitotsu koe ni mo kikoenu wa kokorogokoro ni mono ya kanashiki
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Akikaze ni tsuyu o namida to naku mushi no omou kokoro o tare ni towamashi