風吹けば柳の糸のかたよりに
なびくにつけて過ぐる春かな
なびくにつけて過ぐる春かな
- Roma-ji
-
Kaze fukeba yanagi no ito no katayori ni nabiku ni tsukete suguru haru kana
- English Translation
-
When the breezes blow,
the willow's threads, twisted all
the one way, lean so;
and as they bend in the wind,
the spring goes on passing by
- Meaning
- When the wind blows, the threadlike willow branches lean all one way, and with that swaying, the spring passes on.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 23
Watching willow branches lean one way in the wind, the poet senses spring slipping past. The direction in which the willow bends is overlaid with the flow of time, and a feeling of transience is set within a calm scene.
The author, Shirakawa-in, is Emperor Shirakawa, the seventy-second sovereign. The first son of Emperor Go-Sanjō, he continued to rule as a retired emperor after abdicating, and he commanded Minamoto no Toshiyori to compile this anthology.
First line, 'kaze fukeba', means whenever the wind blows, a habitual condition.
Second line, 'yanagi no ito no', likens the long, drooping willow branches to threads. This poem and the next, 24, form a pair of willow poems.
Third line, 'katayori ni', contains katayori, a pivot word meaning both leaning to one side and twisting thread one way, twisting being an associated word of thread. The next poem uses the same word.
Fourth line, 'nabiku ni tsukete', means as they bend, the turning point where thought moves from the scene to the passing of time.
Final line, 'suguru haru kana', means the spring that passes, ending on a noun with the exclamatory kana.
- Author
- Retired Emperor Shirakawa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Kasugano no ne no hi no matsu wa hikade koso kamisabi yukamu kage ni kakureme
- Next Poem
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Asamadaki fukikuru kaze ni makasureba katayori shikeri aoyagi no ito