Itsuwari o tadasu no mori no yūdasuki kaketsutsu chikae ware o omowaba - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

偽りをただすの森の木綿襷
かけつつ誓へ我を思はば

Roma-ji: Itsuwari o tadasu no mori no yūdasuki kaketsutsu chikae ware o omowaba
English Translation: The lie you have told—
in Tadasu Wood, where lies are judged,
take the sacred sash,
and, wearing it, swear to me,
if you truly love me still
Meaning: In the Wood of Tadasu, where falsehoods are judged, put on the sacred cotton sash and swear before the gods—if you truly love me.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1220

Headnote: "Composed when he had been close to a woman in court service and, seeing a man of high rank frequenting her and courting her, reproached her, and she argued back."
This is the first poem of the sequence on resenting a cold-hearted lover and enduring the pain. Put on the sacred sash of the Wood of Tadasu, where falsehoods are judged, and swear before the gods, if you love me. According to the headnote, he had been close to a woman in court service, and when he reproached her on seeing a man of high rank frequenting her and courting her, she denied it and argued back, so he composed this.
The author, "Taira no Sadafun," was a son of Taira no Yoshikaze and was called Heichū. A poet known for his amorous life, he is regarded as the hero of The Tale of Heichū.
The Wood of Tadasu is a famous poetic place in Yamashiro Province, the forest of the Kamo Mioya Shrine, known as the Lower Kamo Shrine. It is sung with a pun on "tadasu," "to judge, to set right." The yūdasuki is a cotton sash worn over the shoulders by those serving in sacred rites.

The first line, "itsuwari o," means "the falsehood." It opens from a heart that suspects the woman's denial to be a lie. The theme shifts from the preceding sequence on a love whose visits have ceased to a love that suspects and resents the lover's faithlessness.
In the second line, "tadasu no mori no," "tadasu" is a pivot word meaning both "to judge a falsehood" and the Wood of Tadasu.
The third line, "yūdasuki," is the cotton sash worn over the shoulders in sacred rites. The upper verse works as a preface leading to "kake," "to put on," in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "kaketsutsu chikae," means "putting on the sash, swear before the gods." "Kake" joins putting the sash on the shoulders with pledging an oath to the gods. It is an imperative, with a pause after the fourth line.
The last line, "ware o omowaba," means "if you love me," giving in inverted order the condition of the command in the fourth line. In a forceful tone demanding an oath before the gods, it sings of a man's resentment that will not forgive falsehood.
Author: Taira no Sadafun
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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