山里は野辺のさわらび萌え出づる
をりにのみこそ人は訪ひけれ
をりにのみこそ人は訪ひけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Yamazato wa nobe no sawarabi moeizuru ori ni nomi koso hito wa toikere
- English Translation
-
To the mountain home,
when the bracken in the fields
sends its first shoots up,
only in that picking time
do people come to call
- Meaning
- To a mountain village, people come visiting only in the season when young bracken sprouts in the fields, the time for picking it.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 71
Into a mountain village that no one usually visits, people come only in the season when young bracken sprouts, to gather it. The loneliness of the mountain village is set against its brief bustle in spring. From here the poems leave the cherry and move to the emblems of late spring.
The author, Eien, was a son of Fujiwara no Nagasuke and a monk of Kōfukuji. He rose to Provisional Archbishop and, for his poems on the cuckoo, was called the Archbishop of the First Song.
First line, 'yamazato wa', states the theme, a dwelling deep in the mountains away from towns.
Second line, 'nobe no sawarabi', uses sawarabi, bracken just sprouting.
Third line, 'moeizuru', means sending up shoots.
Fourth line, 'ori ni nomi koso', contains ori, a pivot word meaning both the season and the picking of bracken; koso closes on the perfective kere in the final line.
Final line, 'hito wa toikere', means people came to call, implying the usual loneliness of the mountain village.
- Author
- Yoen
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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