外山なるしばの立ち枝に吹く風の
音聞く折ぞ冬はもの憂き
音聞く折ぞ冬はもの憂き
- Roma-ji
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Toyama naru shiba no tachie ni fuku kaze no oto kiku ori zo fuyu wa monouki
- English Translation
-
On the near hills,
through the tall and upright boughs
of brushwood blows the wind;
it is when I hear that sound
that winter weighs upon my heart.
- Meaning
- It is when I hear the wind blowing through the tall bare boughs of brushwood on the hills near the village that winter feels most dreary.
- Commentary
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Book Four Winter Poems 147
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says winter’s gloom is deepest when the wind rattles the brushwood on the near hills. From the preceding poems on falling leaves the scene moves to the time after the leaves are gone, and the very sound of wind in bare branches becomes the heart of winter.
In the Monthly Collection it belongs to the middle of the Tenth Month.
First line, “toyama naru”: “toyama,” the low hills near the village, as opposed to the deep mountains; “naru” marks location.
Second line, “shiba no tachie ni”: the tall, straight boughs of brushwood, now leafless and catching the wind.
Third line, “fuku kaze no”: from the rustling oak leaves of the preceding poem to wind through bare branches.
Fourth line, “oto kiku ori zo”: “zo” calls for the attributive “uki” at the close. Knowing winter by ear, it belongs to the run of sound poems beginning with 144.
Fifth line, “fuyu wa monouki”: the attributive of “monoushi” completes the construction, declaring winter itself dreary.
- Author
- Sone no Yoshitada
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Kaze fukeba nara no uraba no soyosoyo to iiawasetsutsu izuchi chiruramu
- Next Poem
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Aki wa nao ko no shitakage mo kurakariki tsuki wa fuyu koso mirubekarikere