思ひわび見し面影はさておきて
恋せざりけん折ぞ恋しき
恋せざりけん折ぞ恋しき
- Roma-ji
-
Omoiwabi mishi omokage wa sate okite koi sezariken ori zo koishiki
- English Translation
-
Worn out by longing,
the face that I once beheld
I now set aside;
it is the time before I loved
that I long for most of all
- Meaning
- Worn out with longing, I set aside the face I once saw; what I long for now is the time before I knew love.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1394
Headnote: "A love poem from the hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence recalling a past love. Worn out by love, the speaker longs less for the face once seen than for the time before he knew love. According to the headnote, it is a love poem from the hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku.
The author, "Master of the Empress Dowager's Household Shunzei," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. A son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada, he compiled the Senzaishū and was the father of Fujiwara no Teika. The Master of the Empress Dowager's Household headed the office serving the empress dowager.
The hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku is the Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequences, which Sutoku had poets compose in Kyūan 6 (1150).
The first line, "omoiwabi," means "worn out with longing."
The second line, "mishi omokage wa," means "the face I saw when we met." It is the word "omokage" continued from 1390 and 1391.
The third line, "sate okite," means "leaving that aside." The image that ought to be longed for is set aside.
The fourth line, "koi sezariken," means "when I must not yet have been in love."
The last line, "ori zo koishiki," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "koishiki." By the reasoning that what is longed for is not the beloved but the past self who did not know love, it repeats the word "koi" and shows, from the reverse side, how deep the pain of love is.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Shunzei
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Suginikeru yoyo no chigiri mo wasurarete itou uki mi no hate zo hakanaki
- Next Poem
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Nagareiden ukina ni shibashi yodomu kana motomenu sode no fuchi wa aredomo