Asajiwara yukue mo shiranu nobe ni idete furusatobito wa sumire tsumikeri

浅茅原行方も知らぬ野辺に出でて
故郷人は菫摘みけり

Roma-ji: Asajiwara yukue mo shiranu nobe ni idete furusatobito wa sumire tsumikeri
English Translation: Across the reed plain,
fields whose limits none can know,
out the people went,
the folk of the old village,
and gathered violets there.
Meaning: Going out into the endless fields of sparse reeds, the people of the old village gathered violets.
Commentary: Spring Poems 108

Headnote: "Violets"
The poet sings of people from an old village going out into the endless fields of low reeds to gather violets. In the small violets blooming in a desolate field and the villagers picking them lies a late-spring mood that is peaceful and yet somehow lonely.
Gathering violets in spring fields has been a theme since Yamabe no Akahito's Man'yōshū poem in which he came to pick violets and, loving the fields, stayed the night.

Line 1: asajiwara is a desolate field of low reeds, suggesting the decay of the old village.
Line 2 means "whose limits none can know," showing the breadth of the fields.
Line 3 is hypermetric at six syllables, meaning "going out into the fields."
Line 4 names the people of the old village, echoing the many old-home topics of this section.
Line 5: keri expresses emotion at the villagers' activity. Against the gathering of young greens in 17 and 18, this late-spring violet gathering forms a pair of field activities at the beginning and end of spring.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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