秋の田の穂向けの風の片寄りに
我は物思ふつれなきものを
我は物思ふつれなきものを
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no ta no homuke no kaze no katayori ni ware wa mono omou tsurenaki mono o
- English Translation
-
Autumn paddy fields,
where the wind bends all the ears
to one side only—
so I brood on one side alone,
for you are cold to me
- Meaning
- Like the wind that bends the ears of rice in the autumn fields all to one side, I brood only on my side, though you are cold to me.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1431
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on fields and paddies. As the wind bends the ears of rice in the autumn fields to one side, the speaker alone broods, though the beloved is cold. 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.
Book Ten of the Man'yōshū has a poem whose second line reads "homuki no yoreru," of which this is a variant transmission.
The first line, "aki no ta no," refers to autumn paddies where the rice ripens. From the dewy fields of the preceding poem, the scene moves to the paddies.
The second line, "homuke no kaze no," means "of the wind that turns the ears."
The third line, "katayori ni," means "leaning only to one side." The first two lines form a preface leading from the bending ears to "katayori."
The fourth line, "ware wa mono omou," means "I am lost in thought," and runs over the syllable count.
The last line, "tsurenaki mono o," means "though you are cold," "mono o" being a concessive exclamation. Ears that bend to one side are set against a beloved who does not bend. Where 1361 showed an unwavering heart in smoke that would not bend, here it is the speaker who bends.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Au koto o obotsukanakute sugusu kana kusaba no tsuyu no okikawaru made
- Next Poem
-
Hashitaka no nomori no kagami eteshigana omoi omowazu yoso nagara min