Furusato ni tanomeshi hito mo sue no matsu matsuramu sode ni nami ya kosuramu

English Translation

The one at my home
whom I left with my promise,
like Sue's pine, must wait;
on the sleeves of that waiting one
might the waves be breaking now?

Meaning

The one I left at home trusting my promise must be waiting still, like the pine of Sue; might the waves now be breaking over her waiting sleeves?

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 970

Headnote: "For the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds."
This is the second of a sequence of poems on journeys along the sea. The one left at home trusting his promise to return must be waiting, and he wonders whether waves of tears are breaking over her sleeves, thinking of home from the road. According to the headnote, it was submitted to the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds.
No author is named, and the poem continues from the preceding one as a work of Fujiwara no Ietaka. Ietaka was a poet of the early Kamakura period and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
The scene is a journey, far from home.
The direct occasion is the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds held by Retired Emperor Go-Toba.
The source poem is an Eastern poem in the Kokin Wakashū: "Should I ever leave you and turn my heart to another, the waves would cross over the Mount of Sue-no-Matsu," a vow of constancy staked on the mountain the waves never cross. This poem takes from it the words "sue no matsu," "nami," and "kosu."

The first line, "furusato ni," means "at home." It points to the one the traveler left behind.
The second line, "tanomeshi hito mo," means "the one I made trust my promise." With the same word "tanomeshi" as "kon to tanomeshi ware o matsuran" in 909, it likewise imagines from the traveler's side the one at home who waits.
The third line, "sue no matsu," is the pine of Sue-no-Matsuyama, a famous place in Mutsu. The sound of "matsu," pine, leads to "matsu," to wait.
The fourth line, "matsuramu sode ni," means "on the sleeves of one who must be waiting." "Ramu" conjectures about a present event out of sight.
The last line, "nami ya kosuramu," means "might the waves be crossing?" The particle "ya" is answered by "ramu" in the attributive form. In the source poem waves crossing the mountain mean a change of heart, but here they become waves of tears crossing the sleeves of the one who waits, while also hinting at fear of a change of heart. Following "nami ni wakaruru" in the preceding poem, it links by the word "nami."

Author

Fujiwara no Ietaka

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other