Ware ga na o ofuchi no koma no areba koso natsuku ni tsukanu mi to mo shirareme

English Translation

It is just because
there is that colt which bears
my name that I am
known for one who, tame enough,
will still not attach himself.

Meaning

It is only because of that colt which bears my name that I am known for one who, tame enough, still will not attach himself to anyone.

Commentary

13 The Exchange of Long Poems

So again there was no night that brought any easing of the heart, and she went on grieving. People who liked to seem knowing would say that a woman still young ought not to go on like this; but Kaneie himself was entirely unruffled, with no notion that any fault might be his, and carried himself as though there were nothing to answer for, so that nothing could be done. The things she had to say grew thicker and thicker, and while she was casting about for some means of setting them out to him point by point, some disagreeable thing would occur, her heart would go cold, and she would find she could not speak at all. Even so, she resolved that she would write it out at length and let him see it, and composed a long poem. The answer came in a long poem too. Afterward a messenger came, and she sent a short poem; Kaneie, whatever he made of it, replied by return, and the exchange went on, ending in four poems built on the figure of a horse.
Kaneie was the third son of Fujiwara no Morosuke and at this time Assistant Commander of the Right Guards; he would rise to be regent and chancellor. The author was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tomoyasu. Her father Tomoyasu was at this time in Mutsu as its governor.
It is about winter in the first year of Tentoku, and the place is the author's dwelling.
It is the poem Kaneie sent back by return, whatever he made of her question whether this was to be the end.
The author answered with "Komauge ni narimasaritsutsu natsukenu o konawa taezu zo tanomi kinikeru," and Kaneie replied with "Shirakawa no seki no sekeba ya komauku te amata no hi o ba hikiwataritsuru," with which the section closes.

He takes back her taming and her colt. The opening means his own name, and runs on into the second line; but these two lines are disturbed in the base text, and neither the form nor the sense can be settled. There is room to suppose a place name used as the colt's name, but nothing certain can be said. The third line means: it is because that exists, and it governs the closing verb through an emphatic particle. The fourth means tame and yet never attaching itself. Where she had said that he lets go the one who ought to be tamed, he answers that nothing was let go: the horse is simply of a kind that never quite attaches. The close means that he may well be known for such a creature. It extends the line of thought from the end of his long poem, where he made himself a wild horse of the imperial pastures, repeating that it is his nature not to be held — and here again there is no note of apology.

Author

Fujiwara no Kaneie

Source

Kagero Nikki

Other