みごもりの沼の岩垣つつめども
いかなるひまに濡るる袂ぞ
いかなるひまに濡るる袂ぞ
- Roma-ji
-
Migomori no numa no iwagaki tsutsumedomo ika naru hima ni nururu tamoto zo
- English Translation
-
Like the stone fence
round a marsh whose waters hide,
I keep it wrapped close,
yet through what gap does it seep,
leaving my sleeve wet with tears?
- Meaning
- Like the stones that ring a marsh whose waters lie hidden, I keep my feelings closely wrapped, yet through what gap do they seep, that my sleeve should be so wet?
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Love Poems I 1002
Headnote: "Sent to a woman for the first time."
This is the second poem of the sequence on hidden love. Though the speaker keeps his feelings enclosed as stones enclose a marsh, he asks through what gap they seep, leaving his sleeve wet with tears. According to the headnote, it was the first poem he sent to a woman.
The author, "Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu Takatō," is Fujiwara no Takatō. A son of the Consultant Fujiwara no Tadatoshi and elder brother of Fujiwara no Sanesuke, he was appointed Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu.
The first line, "migomori no," means "hidden in the water," opening by taking up the word from the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "numa no iwagaki," means the stones that ring a marsh like a fence.
The third line, "tsutsumedomo," means "though I keep it wrapped," overlaying stones that enclose water with a heart that hides its feelings from others' eyes.
The fourth line, "ika naru hima ni," means "through what gap," laying the gap in the stone ring over a gap in the concealing heart.
The last line, "nururu tamoto zo," means "a sleeve so wet," closed firmly with "zo." In a first love letter it shows tears that overflow all concealment and pleads the depth of feeling. The next poem, by Kentoku-kō, also sets "tsutsumedomo" in its third line and sings of tears that spill though one hides them, so two poems sharing the same line stand side by side.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Takato
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Hitozute ni shirasete shigana kakurenu no migomori ni nomi koi ya wataran
- Next Poem
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Karagoromo sode ni hitome wa tsutsumedomo koboruru mono wa namida narikeri