玉くしげ明けまく惜しきあたら夜を
衣手離れて独りかも寝ん
衣手離れて独りかも寝ん
- Roma-ji
-
Tamakushige akemaku oshiki atarayo o koromode karete hitori ka mo nen
- English Translation
-
Like a jeweled box,
this night I would not see open
into the dawn—
parted from your sleeves, am I
to sleep all alone tonight?
- Meaning
- On this precious night whose dawning I would regret, am I to sleep alone, parted from your sleeves?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1429
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third poem of the sequence on sleeves and robes. On a night so fine its dawning would be regretted, the speaker laments having to sleep alone, parted from the beloved's sleeves. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Anonymous," indicates a poet whose name has not come down.
This poem appears in Book Nine of the Man'yōshū.
The first line, "tamakushige," a beautiful box for combs, is a pillow word for "ake" (dawn), from "opening" a box.
The second line, "akemaku oshiki," means "loath to see it dawn."
The third line, "atarayo o," means "a night too precious to let dawn."
The fourth line, "koromode karete," means "parted from the beloved's sleeves." Taking up the "koromode" of the preceding poem, it sings of sleeves as what binds two people.
In the last line, "hitori ka mo nen," "ka" is questioning and "mo" exclamatory, closed by the attributive "n." Where the preceding poem sang of sleeves that do not dry, this one sings of a night of sleeping alone, parted from the beloved's sleeves, and closes the sequence on sleeves and robes.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ima yori wa awaji to sure ya shirotae no waga koromode no kawaku toki naki
- Next Poem
-
Au koto o obotsukanakute sugusu kana kusaba no tsuyu no okikawaru made