から衣きつつなれにしつましあれば
はるばるきぬるたびをしぞ思ふ
はるばるきぬるたびをしぞ思ふ
- Roma-ji
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Karagoromo kitsutsu narenishi tsuma shi areba
harubaru kinuru tabi o shi zo omou - English Translation
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Clad in Chinese robes,
long worn and grown familiar—
because I have a wife
so dear and close to me,
how keenly I feel this distant journey.
- Meaning
- Like a Chinese robe worn again and again until it has grown familiar to the body, I have a wife with whom I have grown close; and so I keenly feel the long journey that has brought me far from the capital.
- Commentary
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Episode Nine: "Chinese robes"
One tale of the "Journey to the East."
A man, thinking himself of no use in this world, left the capital to seek a place to dwell in the Eastern Provinces, setting out with one or two companions.
On the way, at Yatsuhashi in Mikawa Province, as they ate their meal and saw irises blooming by the marsh, one of them proposed that they compose a poem beginning each line with the five syllables of "kakitsubata." Thus, placing the given characters at the head of each line, he composed this acrostic poem.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
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Shinano naru Asama no take ni tatsu keburi
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Suruga naru Utsu no yamabe no utsutsu ni mo
yume ni mo hito ni awanu narikeri