秋萩の枝もとををに置く露の
今朝消えぬとも色に出でめや
今朝消えぬとも色に出でめや
- Roma-ji
-
Akihagi no eda mo tōo ni oku tsuyu no kesa kienu tomo iro ni ideme ya
- English Translation
-
On autumn bush clover,
its branches bending low, the dew
lies heavy: though
this morning I should vanish,
would I let it show? Never
- Meaning
- Though I should vanish this very morning like the dew that weighs down the branches of the autumn bush clover, would I ever let my love show? Never.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1025
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of a sequence on hidden love that turns on whether feeling shows in one's color. Even if life should vanish like dew on bush clover, the speaker will never let the feeling show. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Middle Counselor Yakamochi," is Ōtomo no Yakamochi. A son of Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito, he rose to Middle Counselor. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, he is thought to have been deeply involved in compiling the Man'yōshū.
Book Eight of the Man'yōshū contains a poem of the same sense attributed to Ōtomo no Katami; in the Shin Kokinshū it is included as a poem by Yakamochi.
In the first line, bush clover is one of the seven flowers of autumn, often sung together with dew.
In the second line, "tōo ni" means "so that the branches bend."
The third line, "oku tsuyu no," means "the dew that lies upon the branches," and the first three lines form a preface that, through fragile dew, leads to "kie," vanishing.
The fourth line, "kesa kienu tomo," means "even if my life should vanish this morning, as the dew does."
In the last line, "me ya" is rhetorical: would I let it show? Never. It declares a resolve to hide one's love even at the cost of life. Here begins a sequence of hidden love turning on "iro ni izu," to show in one's color, and 1029, the poem by Retired Emperor Go-Toba, closes with the same last line, "iro ni ideme ya."
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Shimo no ue ni ato fumitsukuru hamachidori yukue mo nashi to ne o nomi zo naku
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