見ずもあらず見もせぬ人の恋しくは
あやなく今日やながめ暮らさむ
あやなく今日やながめ暮らさむ
- Roma-ji
-
Mizu mo arazu mi mo senu hito no koishiku wa
ayanaku kyō ya nagame kurasamu - English Translation
-
Not that I saw you,
Yet not that I saw you not—
Still you are dear to me;
Without cause today perhaps
I gaze on and pass the day.
- Meaning
- It is not that I did not see you, yet neither did I clearly see you. Still I long for you, and today perhaps I will spend the whole day gazing in that direction for no reason.
- Commentary
-
99. Not That I Did Not See
On a day when a trial of horseback archery was held at Ukon no Baba, there was a woman in a carriage on the opposite side. Her face could faintly be seen through the gap in the bamboo blind.
The poem was composed and sent by a man who was a Middle Captain after he saw this.
It is a frank poem of courtship, saying that because of a woman he did not even clearly see, he has become so concerned with her that he cannot do anything all day.
The Middle Captain was Ariwara no Narihira.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Other
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- Cherry blossoms fall— Scatter and cloud all the air, Hide it from my sight, So the road by which old age Is said to come loses its way.
- For the lord I trust The flowers that I break for him Are such as these— They know nothing of the time, Ever blooming without end.
- Known or not known— Why should we idly divide And speak of such things? Feeling alone surely is The guide upon the way.
- A field overgrown With forgetful grasses—so You may think it seems; Yet this is the grass of love Hidden, which I trust still more.