Kokinshu #228

[lnhammer]

A poem from the poetry contest at the house of Prince Koresada.

    I must take lodgings
(although I'm not traveling)
    in the autumn fields
-- for the maidenflower's name
is so appealing to me.

—March 2012

Original by Fujiwara no Toshiyuki. The parenthetical is the last line of the original -- a displacement far enough away from the clause it actually modifies as to be confusing. In addition, the whole second half is inverted from normal sentence order, and would normally come first. I'm less certain than usual whether to understand the maidenflower as talked about in third-person or addressee ("for, maidenflower, your name") -- I went with the former in contrast to the previous two poems and to pair with the following, but that could be me finding editorial patterns that aren't there.


aki no no ni
yadori wa subeshi
ominaeshi
na o mutsumajimi
tabi naranaku ni

---L.