藤袴はやほころびてにほはなむ
秋の初風吹きたたずとも
秋の初風吹きたたずとも
- Roma-ji
-
Fujibakama haya hokorobite niowanamu aki no hatsukaze fukitatazu tomo
- English Translation
-
Thoroughwort blossoms,
quickly loosen at the seams
and breathe your fragrance,
even if the first wind of
autumn has not risen yet
- Meaning
- O thoroughwort, open your buds quickly and give off your scent, even before the first wind of autumn begins to blow.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Variant Poems 675
The poet asks the thoroughwort to open its buds and give off its fragrance soon, even if the first wind of autumn has not yet begun to blow. It expresses a wish that the fragrant flower bloom without waiting for autumn's arrival, using hokorobu, to come apart at the seams, as an associated word for hakama, trousers, in the flower's name.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 157 in Book Three. Poem 157 also closes with aki no hatsukaze, the first wind of autumn, sharing the same words as this poem's fourth line.
First line, 'fujibakama', means O thoroughwort, one of the seven flowers of autumn, known for its fragrance.
Second line, 'haya hokorobite', means quickly opening, hokorobu also meaning seams coming apart, tied to hakama, trousers.
Third line, 'niowanamu', means I wish you would give off your scent, the particle namu expressing a wish addressed to another; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'aki no hatsukaze', means the first wind of autumn. It is the same phrase as the final line of 157 in Book Three.
Final line, 'fukitatazu tomo', means even if it has not begun to blow, the particle tomo expressing a concessive supposition. It is inverted with the lines before.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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