Calligraphy translation request

[kiritin]

Hello,
We've had this calligraphy hung on the wall of the house for some time and no one seems to remember what the meaning is. We tried asking around a bit and to match the signs with Japanese characters but we didn't get anywhere.



Thank you for your time.
Kiritin

 

[Morphling]

川端康成 「秋の野に鈴鳴らし行く人見えず」

I'm sure it is very poetic with deeper meaning but literally it says something like "cannot see a soul that will ring the bell in the autumn fields".

The calligraphy is some mean 狂草.

Looking at the actual calligraphy, it appears to be written as:
秋乃野に鈴鳴羅し行く人見えず。

 

[Toritoribe]

Ah, I see. It's written in 変体仮名.

秋乃野爾鈴鳴羅し以具人見衣ず
Aki no no ni suzu narashi yuku hito miezu

 

[kiritin]

Thank you! It still sounds a bit cryptic to me now I have some ideas on the meaning!

 

[Toritoribe]

The author Kawabata Yasunari won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. The poem was composed right after he dealt with press at that time. "Those who go in the autumn fields with bells ringing" ostensibly refers to pilgrims, but it's said that that's a metaphor of reporters. It's also said that 野に鈴（ベル） "no ni bell" is a word play for "Nobel".

 

[kiritin]

Amazing! Thanks a lot for the research