Kokinshu #105

[lnhammer]

Topic unknown.

    When I come and see
each of the meadows where
    the bush warbler cries,
the winds are indeed blowing
among the fading flowers.

—24 June 2011

Original author unknown. Poor bush warblers -- can't get a poetic break. Naku would normally be "sing," but given that this is the first of a series where the bird supposedly laments the passing season and that it's written phonetically, a pun on the homophone meaning "weep" is strongly suggested -- thus "cries." As in #51, mireba can mean "because I see" as well as "when I see." Also ambiguous is whether the crying is cause or result of the fading. In a less poetic ambiguity, I'm unclear whether to understand the flowers as the location ("among") or recipient ("away") of the wind's blowing. The latter is tempting, given the wind in #106 and how well "the fading flowers away" works as a last line, but the former is an easier reading.


鶯のなくのべごとにきて見ればうつろふ花に風ぞふきける

uguisu no
naku nobe-goto ni
kite mireba
utsurou hana ni
kaze zo fukikeru