Poem Meaning and Background
やまざとは・ふゆぞさびしさ・まさりける
yama-zato wa・fuyu zo sabishisa・masari keruひとめもくさも・かれぬとおもへば
hitome mo kusa mo・karenu to omoeba
〜源宗于朝臣 (Minamoto no Muneyuki Ason)
Translation
Winter loneliness
In a mountain village grows
Only deeper, when
Guests are gone, and leaves and grass
Are withered: troubling thoughts.
Meaning
In the Hyakunin Isshu, there are many fall poems which deal with the theme of loneliness, but this poem really drives home how much colder and deeper the loneliness of winter can feel. The author includes images which evoke further feelings of loneliness and separation: a mountain village (likely fairly removed from the capital), dried grass, no visitors. We can assume that in the mountain village, snow would likely pile up, making for an increased feeling of quietude, but at the same time, isolation. Not only have visitors gone away, but even the grass has withered, giving us a sense that all signs of life around the author have disappeared as the winter drags on.
In the poem, the ぞ (zo) in fuyu zo sabishisa serves to strengthen the meaning, so in this case it is saying that winter in particular is lonely. The phrase masari keru similarly means "especially", or "more so than other seasons". "Kare" has a double meaning, since it can mean both 枯れ (to wither, to dry up) or 離れ (to go away).
At the time this poem was written, it was popular for noble families to have holiday homes or villas built in small villages away from the capitol to experience more "simple" living. The author, who is of noble birth, was probably spending some time in such a villa, but finding it to be a very lonely and isolating experience in winter. What I find interesting is that in the artist Hokusai's depiction of this poem (shown above), he chooses to paint people gathered together around a fire. From the looks of it, these people are probably local villagers, and they don't appear very lonely at all. Perhaps Hokusai is saying that locals know how to fight the winter blues better than nobility who come in from out of town just to get a taste of rural life.
In the poem, the ぞ (zo) in fuyu zo sabishisa serves to strengthen the meaning, so in this case it is saying that winter in particular is lonely. The phrase masari keru similarly means "especially", or "more so than other seasons". "Kare" has a double meaning, since it can mean both 枯れ (to wither, to dry up) or 離れ (to go away).
At the time this poem was written, it was popular for noble families to have holiday homes or villas built in small villages away from the capitol to experience more "simple" living. The author, who is of noble birth, was probably spending some time in such a villa, but finding it to be a very lonely and isolating experience in winter. What I find interesting is that in the artist Hokusai's depiction of this poem (shown above), he chooses to paint people gathered together around a fire. From the looks of it, these people are probably local villagers, and they don't appear very lonely at all. Perhaps Hokusai is saying that locals know how to fight the winter blues better than nobility who come in from out of town just to get a taste of rural life.
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