春も秋も
Haru mo aki mo
しらぬときはの
shiranu tokiwa no
山かはは
yamakawa wa
花吹く風を
hana fuku kaze wo
音にこそきけ
oto ni koso kike
Glossary
|
CHARACTER
|
RŌMAJI
|
DEFINITION
|
POSSIBLE SYNONYMS
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 秋 | aki (n.) | the season when crops and fruits are harvested and leaves change color | autumn, fall |
| 吹く | fuku (v.) | to be moved or affected by the wind, creating an air current | blow, whistle, float, carry, gust, waft |
| 花 | hana (n.) | the part of a plant that is colorful and only lives for a short time | flowers, blossoms, cherry blossoms, blooms, petals |
| 春 | haru (n.) | the season in which plants and flowers begin to grow | spring, springtime |
| 風を | kaze wo (phrase) | within a natural movement of air outside | in the wind, in the breeze, in the air, in a gust, in a flurry |
| きけ | kike (v.) | used to urge someone to pay attention | listen, note, mark, follow, notice, prick your ears |
| こそ | koso (adj.) | used to indicate a specific thing observed or heard by the speaker | that, this, that there |
| ...も...も | ...mo...mo (conj.) | used to connect two words or phrases to stress that each is included | both, and |
| 音に | oto ni (phrase) | the audible vibrations in the air made by someone or something | to the sound of, to the resonance of, to the music of, to the tune of, to the melody of |
| しらぬ | shiranu (adj.) | lacking knowledge or information | unfamiliar to, unknown by, foreign to, strange to, unrecognized by, nameless to, unheard of by |
| ときはの | tokiwa no (phrase) | made of or surrounded by trees whose leaves do not change with the seasons | in an evergreen forest, surrounded by pine trees, among cypress trees |
| 山かはは | yamakawa wa (n.) | a large natural flow of water that crosses an elevated area of land | mountain river, mountain stream, mountain spring, mountain creek |
Bio
Sei Shōnagon was a writer and lady-in-waiting to the Empress Sadako during the Heian period (794–1185) in Japan. She wrote The Pillow Book, a famous compilation of essays, diary entries, and poems about her life in the empress’s court. She was confined to the small aristocratic world within the court, hardly ever venturing beyond its walls. When she was not busy entertaining the empress, she spent her time gossiping and observing the lives of those around her. She was known for her quick wit and for being able to recite hundreds of classical poems from memory. She wrote waka, short five-line poems in which the last two lines add to or modify the meaning of the first three. Her poems were typically about nature, the seasons, the passage of time, and the cycle of life. Though the date and circumstances of her death are mysterious, historians believe that she either lived until 1017 as the wife of a court official, or else died in 1025, a miserable, poor
Buddhist nun.