白露や心おくらむ女郎花
色めく野辺に人通ふとて
色めく野辺に人通ふとて
- Roma-ji
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Shiratsuyu ya kokoro okuramu ominaeshi iromeku nobe ni hito kayou tote
- English Translation
-
Does the white dew
lie there with an anxious heart
on the maiden flower,
because to the colorful meadow
people come and go so often
- Meaning
- Is the white dew uneasy as it lies upon the maiden flower, because people keep coming to the meadow where she blooms so alluringly?
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 232
Because people keep visiting the field where the maiden flower blooms so alluringly, the white dew resting on her must be uneasy, as if fearing a rival. Seeing the flower as a woman and the dew as her lover, the poem is a witty play on oku, for dew to settle and for the heart to be uneasy.
The next poem, 233, tells the maiden flower not to be ill at ease with the white dew, forming a pair with this poem.
From poem 230 through poem 233 in this book come poems on the maiden flower, which, likened to a woman, is sung in its dealings with the white dew and the wind.
The author, Akisuke, is Fujiwara no Akisuke. A son of Fujiwara no Akisue, he rose to Master of the Western Capital Office. A poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara house, he compiled the Shikawakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Sutoku.
First line, 'shiratsuyu ya', means the white dew, and the particle ya binds with ramu in the second line. The dew is seen as the flower's lover.
Second line, 'kokoro okuramu', is a pivot word in which oku means both for dew to settle and kokoro oku, to be uneasy. The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, 'ominaeshi', is the flower seen as a woman.
Fourth line, 'iromeku nobe ni', uses iromeku, both to look colorful and to look alluring.
Final line, 'hito kayou tote', means because people come and go, an inverted statement of the reason for the second line.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Akisuke
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yūtsuyu no tamakazura shite ominaeshi nohara no kaze ni ore ya shinuramu
- Next Poem
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Ominaeshi yo no ma no kaze ni orefushite kesa shiratsuyu ni kokoro okaru na