賤の女が葦火焚く屋も卯の花の
咲きしかかればやつれざりけり
咲きしかかればやつれざりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Shizu no me ga ashibi taku ya mo unohana no saki shi kakareba yatsurezarikeri
- English Translation
-
Even the hut where
the humble woman burns reeds,
with deutzia flowers
blooming all across its walls,
has lost its look of poverty
- Meaning
- Even the hovel where a humble woman burns reeds for her fire does not look shabby, for the deutzia blooms all over it.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 103
Even the humble hut of a poor woman, blackened by the smoke of burning reeds, does not look shabby when white deutzia blooms over it. The darkness of the poor dwelling is set against the whiteness of the flowers, expressing wonder that the blossoms can make even such a house beautiful.
With this poem the sequence on the deutzia ends. Having layered images of snow, moonlight, hedges and sacred ropes since poem 98, it closes with the familiar scene of a common household.
The author, Tsunenobu, is Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A son of Minamoto no Michikata, he rose to Major Counselor and was called the Katsura Counselor. In his last years he died at his post as Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu. He was the father of the compiler, Minamoto no Toshiyori.
First line, 'shizu no me ga', means a woman of humble station, taking up the life of the common people.
Second line, 'ashibi taku ya mo', means even the hut where reeds are burned for fuel, suggesting a dark dwelling sooty with smoke.
Third line, 'unohana no', is the white deutzia, set against the dark hut of the second line.
Fourth line, 'saki shi kakareba', uses the emphatic particle shi: because the deutzia blooms hanging over the house.
Final line, 'yatsurezarikeri', means it has not become shabby, closing with the exclamatory keri.
- Author
- Minamoto no Tsunenobu
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kamiyama no fumoto ni sakeru unohana wa taga shime yuishi kakine naruramu
- Next Poem
-
Miyama idete mada sato narenu hototogisu tabi no sora naru ne o ya nakuramu