ありとのみ音に聞きつつ音羽川
渡らば袖に影も見えなん
渡らば袖に影も見えなん
- Roma-ji
-
Ari to nomi oto ni kikitsutsu Otowagawa wataraba sode ni kage mo mienan
- English Translation
-
Only by the sound
of rumor I have heard you're there:
Otowa River,
if I crossed it, on my sleeve
surely I would see your image
- Meaning
- I have only heard by rumor that you are there; if I were to cross the Otowa River, surely I would see your reflection upon my wet sleeve.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1055
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eighth poem of the sequence on love that cannot meet, sung through places and things. The beloved known only by rumor, the speaker sings, would surely appear as a reflection on the wet sleeve if one crossed the Otowa River. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Anonymous," continues from the preceding poem and indicates a poem whose author's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "ari to nomi," means "only that you are there." Like "ari to wa miete" in 997, Korenori's poem, it thinks of a beloved known to be present yet not met.
The second line, "oto ni kikitsutsu," means "hearing by rumor," sharing its words with "oto ni nomi ari to kikikoshi" in 991.
The third line, "Otowagawa," is a poetic place in Yamashiro, drawn out by the repeated "oto" of the second line.
The fourth line, "wataraba sode ni," means "if I crossed, on my sleeve wet with the water."
In the last line, "nan" combines emphasis and conjecture: surely it would appear. "Kage" is a reflection in water; taking up the wet sleeves of the poems before and "kage o misemashi" two poems earlier, the speaker would catch the beloved's image on a wet sleeve.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Shigure furu fuyu no konoha no kawakazu zo monoomou hito no sode wa arikeru
- Next Poem
-
Mizukuki no oka no konoha o fukikaeshi tare ka wa kimi o koin to omoishi