[71] ゆう (Yuu)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Depiction of the poem by the artist Hokusai

ゆふされば・かどたのいなば・おとづれて

yuu sareba・kadota no inaba・otozurete

あしのまろやに・あきかぜぞふく

ashi no maroya ni・akikaze zo fuku

〜大納言経信（Dainagon Tsunenobu）

Translation

When the evening comes,

From the rice leaves at my gate,

Gentle knocks are heard,

And, into my round rush-hut,

Enters autumn's roaming breeze.

Meaning

This poem was written for a poetry contest (歌会, utakai) that took place at a mountain villa in Kyoto. The topic selected for this author/poem was 「田園の家の秋風」（den'en no ie no akikaze), in English, roughly, "fall wind outside a rural home". The author of this poem beautifully illustrates a typical fall scene: in the evening, the fall wind passes through the rice fields, rustling the rice plants as it breezes in to a hut made of reeds. The poem effectively conveys a pleasant and relaxing fall evening. As opposed to the previous poem ([70] Sa), the author does not instill the poem with any emotions, but merely tries to capture the scenery as it is. Such poems can be categorized as 叙景歌（jokeika), "scenery poems". 

The word 訪れて(otozurete) in modern-day Japanese usually means "to visit someone" but in this context (and time period), おとづれて means "to make a sound". The hut is described by the author as 葦のまろや (ashi no maroya), essentially a plain hut covered in reeds.

Author

Minamoto no Tsunenobu (1016~1097) was a skilled in writing both Japanese and Chinese poetry, and also a skilled musician. He was known as 三船の才(sansen no sai) along with Fujiwara no Kintō, author of [55] Taki.