Nagori omou tamoto ni kanete shirarekeri wakaruru tabi no yukusue no tsuyu

English Translation

Sleeves that grieve to part
have told me already now,
before it has come,
of the dew that lies ahead
on the road of your journey.

Meaning

These sleeves, grieving at the parting, have already told me of the dew that waits along the road of the journey ahead.

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 892

Headnote: "Composed and sent to someone going beyond the capital."
This is the first poem of a sequence of gifts to those leaving the capital. From sleeves wet with grief at parting, the dew of the journey ahead is already known. According to the headnote, it was composed and sent to someone going away from the capital.
The author was a son of Emperor Takakura and an elder brother of Emperor Go-Toba, known as a poet.
The scene is the sending off of someone leaving the capital, and the place is the capital.
The direct occasion was the poem sent to someone going beyond the capital.

The first line, "nagori omou," means "grieving at what parting leaves behind." The poem begins from the heart of the one who sees the traveler off.
The second line, "tamoto ni kanete," means "by these sleeves, beforehand." Sleeves wet with tears become the place where what is to come is foretold.
The third line, "shirarekeri," means "it came to be known of itself," the auxiliary "ru" expressing spontaneity. It is not knowledge sought out but knowledge that arrives on its own.
The fourth line, "wakaruru tabi no," means "of the journey of parting." As in "yukusue ni" of 866, words that look ahead down the road continue here.
The last line, "yukusue no tsuyu," ends on a noun, laying together the dew on the grasses of the road and the tears to be shed along the way. The sleeves already wet here are made to anticipate the dew of the journey, and the tears of the one who sees off and the road of the one who goes are sung as a single continuous thing.

Author

Prince Koreakira

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other