Kokinshu #444
Thursday, 5 September 2013 07:05 Morning-glory seeds (kengoshi)
All of a sudden,
I seem to see the flower's
color as deeper
-- even though they're just tinted
by the settling white dew.
uchitsuke ni
koshi to ya hana no
iro o mimu
oku shiratsuyu no
somuru bakari o
---L.
All of a sudden,
I seem to see the flower's
color as deeper
-- even though they're just tinted
by the settling white dew.
—24 July 2013
Original by Yatabe no Nazane. Nazane appears in court records as a minor official (yes, some made it into the Kokinshu) between 884 and his death in 900, and has this one poem in the Kokinshu. ¶ Kengoshi are the seeds of morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea), which presumably come after the early-autumn blossoms. The bit about the dew seems to be another apparent paradox about white dew and dark colors. Some commentaries suggest, via reading koshi as a pivot-word meaning "next year" in addition to "deep," that this may be a Tanabata poem with the Weaver Maiden as speaker, with the dew a euphemism for her tears. If this was intended, it's a murky reading I have to squint to make out.uchitsuke ni
koshi to ya hana no
iro o mimu
oku shiratsuyu no
somuru bakari o
---L.