あしひきの山田守る庵に置く蚊火の
下焦がれつつ我が恋ふらくは
下焦がれつつ我が恋ふらくは
- Roma-ji
-
Ashihiki no yamada moru io ni oku kabi no shitakogaretsutsu waga kouraku wa
- English Translation
-
Foot-wearying
mountains, where the paddy's watch
sets the smudge fires
smoldering from below: so
burns in secret this my love
- Meaning
- Like the smudge fire set by the watchman's hut in a mountain paddy, smoldering low beneath its smoke, so my love goes on burning in secret, never breaking into flame.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 992
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the first of two poems by Hitomaro on a love kept hidden in the heart. The smudge fire smoldering at the watch hut of a mountain paddy stands for a love that burns inwardly and cannot show itself. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A poet of the Asuka period, he served as a court poet under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu and left many poems in the Man'yōshū. Later ages revered him as the saint of poetry.
The first line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word for "mountain."
The second line, "yamada moru io ni," means "at the hut where one keeps watch over a mountain paddy" against birds and beasts.
In the third line, "kabi" is a fire lit to drive off mosquitoes, smoldering and smoking without breaking into flame. The first three lines form a preface leading to "shitakogare."
The fourth line, "shitakogaretsutsu," overlays the fire smoldering low with a heart that burns in secret. "Tsutsu" marks continuation.
In the last line, "kouraku" is a nominal form of "kou," meaning "my loving." The subject, "my love," is held back to the end in an inversion. The poem keeps the archaic grammar of the Man'yō age, and with the next poem by Hitomaro it presents a love that is never shown.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Oto ni nomi ari to kikikoshi Miyoshino no taki wa kyō koso sode ni ochikere
- Next Poem
-
Isonokami Furu no wasada no ho ni wa idezu kokoro no uchi ni koi ya wataran