Spin & Discover Kakekotoba!
Poem 96: Lay Novice and former Chancellor of the Realm
Try to find the kakekotoba hidden in the poem and tap it.
The word you tap will spin right where it is, revealing its two meanings in turn.
花さそふ
嵐の庭の
雪ならで
ふりゆくものは
わが身なりけり
Commentary
The word "furiyuku" is a kakekotoba.
A kakekotoba layers two meanings onto a single word that sounds the same either way.
Here, "furiyuku" carries both "降りゆく" (furiyuku, falling) and "古りゆく" (furiyuku, growing old).
What falls in the garden, scattered by the storm that lures the blossoms down, is not snow. What keeps falling, growing old with each passing day, is none other than myself.
By likening the petals swirling through the garden to snow and then denying it, the poem leads us to realize that what is truly "furiyuku" is the poet's own advancing age.
Packing two meanings into just thirty-one syllables is exactly what makes kakekotoba so appealing.
Vocabulary
To lure, to invite. Here, refers to the wind scattering the blossoms.
Is not ~, rather than ~.
Growing old, aging.
In this poem, refers to the poet's own advancing years.
It was myself all along.
"Keri" expresses exclamation.