Tobu tori no asuka no sato o okite inaba kimi ga atari wa miezu kamo aran

English Translation

Leaving behind
Asuka, where the birds fly,
if I go away,
the place where you dwell, my lord,
may pass from sight, I fear.

Meaning

If I go away and leave behind Asuka, the village of the flying birds, I fear the place where you dwell will no longer be seen.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 896

Headnote: "When the court moved from the Fujiwara Palace to the Nara Palace in the third month of Wadō 3."
This is the opening poem of Travel Poems, and the first of a sequence of travel poems from the age of the Man'yōshū. The speaker says that once Asuka is left behind, the place where the beloved dwells will no longer be seen, expressing reluctance to leave a familiar land. According to the headnote, it was composed when the capital was moved from Fujiwara-kyō to Heijō-kyō.
The author, Empress Genmei, was the forty-third sovereign. A daughter of Emperor Tenji, she became the consort of Prince Kusakabe and was the mother of Emperor Monmu and Empress Genshō.
The scene is the move of the capital in the third month of Wadō 3 (710), on the road leading away from the village of Asuka.
The direct occasion is the transfer of the capital from Fujiwara-kyō to Heijō-kyō.
The poem is included in Book One of the Man'yōshū as a poem composed at the time of the move of the capital in Wadō 3.

The first line, "tobu tori no," is a pillow word for Asuka. By placing the image of flying birds at the head of the book, Travel Poems opens with a poem of departure.
The second line, "asuka no sato o," refers to the land of Asuka near Fujiwara-kyō. Long the site of palaces, it is sung of here as a familiar home.
The third line, "okite inaba," means "if I go away, leaving it behind." "Ina" is the irrealis form of the verb "inu," and with the particle "ba" it expresses a supposition.
The fourth line, "kimi ga atari wa," means "the place where you dwell." The poem does not say who "kimi" is.
The last line, "miezu kamo aran," means "may it not pass from sight?" The particle "ka" is answered by the conjectural "n" in the attributive form, making a question tinged with lament. This feeling for distance as things vanish from view is echoed in 901, where Tsukushi is imagined beyond the mountain trailing white clouds, and sets the keynote of Travel Poems at the head of the book.

Author

Empress Genmei

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other