Kokinshu #453

Bracken (warabi)

    These fronds of grasses
where, even when they break out,
    smoke cannot be seen
rising up -- who was it to
first gave it the name "straw-fire"?

—4 September 2013

Original by Shinsei, a Buddhist priest whose parentage and birthdates are unknown, but according to the headnote of #556, he was active during the time of Ono no Komachi (see #113) and Abe no Kiyoyuki (see #456) in the mid-9th century. He has two poems in the Kokinshu. ¶ Bracken can be associated with any season, but is most commonly a spring topic for its edible fiddleheads. Warabi, "bracken," sounds like wara + bi, "straw + fire," and moyu can mean both "sprout" and "burn." I read the latter as a pivot (here both rendered in "break out" -- WIKTORY!) though doing so makes the statement make only marginally more sense. Frankly, I'm not sure how this counts as "hiding" the topic word. Compare #249, which also plays with etymology but does it using kanji and less naivete.


keburi tachi
moyu to mo mienu
kusa no ha o
tare ka warabi to
nazukesomekemu

---L.