誰ぞこの三輪の檜原も知らなくに
心のすきの我を尋ぬる
心のすきの我を尋ぬる
- Roma-ji
-
Tare zo kono Miwa no hibara mo shiranaku ni kokoro no suki no ware o tazunuru
- English Translation
-
Who can it be, then,
that without even knowing
Miwa's cypress wood,
with a heart of cedar-love
comes seeking me out like this?
- Meaning
- Who is this, I wonder, who does not even know the cypress groves of Miwa, yet comes seeking me with a heart as fond as the cedar seeds she sends?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1062
Headnote: "When a woman wrapped up cedar seeds and sent them to him."
This is the second of two poems by Sanekata. Who is it, he asks, who does not even know the cypress groves of Miwa yet comes seeking him with an amorous heart, lightly answering the cedar seeds a woman sent. According to the headnote, it was composed when a woman wrapped cedar seeds and sent them to him.
The author, "Sanekata Ason," continues from the preceding poem and is Fujiwara no Sanekata, a son of Fujiwara no Sadatoki, Chamberlain, and grandson of the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Morotada. He rose to Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards, but went down to Michinoku as its governor and died at his post.
The first line, "tare zo kono," means "who is this?" and "zo" is resolved by "nuru" in the last line.
In the second line, Miwa is Mount Miwa in Yamato, and "hibara" are the cypress groves at its foot.
The third line, "shiranaku ni," means "though not knowing."
In the fourth line, "suki" pivots between "sugi," the cedar sent to him, and "suki," an amorous heart. Since the Kokin Wakashū poem "waga io wa / Miwa no yamamoto / koishiku wa / toburaikimase / sugi tateru kado," the cedar of Miwa had been sung as the landmark for visiting one's love.
The last line, "ware o tazunuru," means "comes seeking me." Where the preceding poem lamented a love that cannot be carried across, here he wittily answers that the woman herself, sending cedar seeds, comes seeking him with a fond heart.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Sanekata
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ika ni sen Kumeji no hashi no nakazora ni watashi mo hatenu mi to ya narinan
- Next Poem
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Waga koi wa iwanu bakari zo Naniwa naru ashi no shinoya no shita ni koso take