我が宿はそこともなにか教ふべき
言はでこそ見め尋ねけりやと
言はでこそ見め尋ねけりやと
- Roma-ji
-
Waga yado wa soko to mo nani ka oshiubeki iwade koso mime tazunekeri ya to
- English Translation
-
As for my dwelling,
why should I tell you "it's there"?
What need to teach you?
I'll say nothing, and just see
whether you will seek it out
- Meaning
- Why should I tell you where my home is? I will say nothing and simply watch to see whether you truly come looking for it.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1006
Headnote: "When the Horikawa Regent sent letters and asked where her home was."
This is the first of two poems exchanged with the Horikawa Regent. Why should she tell him where her home is? She will say nothing and see whether he truly seeks it out, testing his feelings. According to the headnote, the Horikawa Regent sent her letters and asked where her home was.
The author, "Hon'in no Jijū," was a lady-in-waiting of the mid-Heian period. Her personal collection is the Hon'in no Jijū Shū.
The Horikawa Regent is Fujiwara no Kanemichi, so called from his mansion at Horikawa.
The next poem is Kanemichi's reply to this one.
The first line, "waga yado wa," means "my home," taking up Kanemichi's question, "Where is your home?"
The second line, "soko to mo nani ka," means "why should I say it is there," with the rhetorical "ka" resolved by "beki" in the third line.
The third line, "oshiubeki," means "how could I tell you? I cannot," and the poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, the emphatic "koso" is resolved by "me": I will say nothing and watch.
The last line, "tazunekeri ya to," means "to see whether you truly come seeking," inverted with the fourth line. It is a woman's poem that hides her dwelling to test the depth of his feeling, and it forms an exchange with Kanemichi's reply in the next poem.
- Author
- Hon'in no Jijū
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aratama no toshi ni makasete miru yori wa ware koso koeme Ōsaka no seki
- Next Poem
-
Waga omoi sora no keburi to narinureba kumoi nagara mo nao tazuneten