KKS 72
Text
[Topic unknown]
[Poet unknown]
このさとにたびねしぬべし桜ばなちりのまがひに家路忘て
|
kono sato ni |
In this village |
Notes
- I've forgotten my way home
- Some editions interpret this instead as "I give no thought to returning home."
Other sources:
Analysis
This poem creates a vivid image of the chaotic scattering blossoms. However, the exact interpretation of the poem depends on exactly what the "chaos" refers to as well as what the last line means.
One possibility is that the poet is taking the "elegant conceit" that the flowers are falling (or have fallen) so profusely that the way home is obscured. This is found in both very old commentaries (such as the 14th century commentary attributed to Fujiwara no Tamesuke) and some modern editions.
Another idea is that the beauty of the blossoms makes the poet forget any idea of going home. This seems to first appear in the Eigashō but continues through the Edo period, although many later scholars instead read the poem to say that the sorrow brought on by the blossoms makes the poet not want to leave.
Kubota(1937) suggests this may have been read on an excursion to a nearby park, read by someone as the group is preparing to head home.
In any case, there is a connection to the previous poem, particularly if this one has a positive meaning. Just as the flowers are indeed splendid, they are so beautiful that we even lose our way home.
Katagiri lists several other poems with similar feeling: 65, 117, KKS 116, and 349. In contrast to the first two, the language is more typical of the Man'yōshū.
