たもとより離れて玉を包まめや
これなむそれとうつせみむかし
これなむそれとうつせみむかし
- Roma-ji
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Tamoto yori hanarete tama o tsutsumame ya kore namu sore to utsuse mimu kashi
- English Translation
-
Apart from my sleeve,
what else could ever wrap
jewels such as these?
"This is the very one"—so say,
and move it to your sleeve to see.
- Meaning
- What but a sleeve could ever wrap such jewels? "This is the very jewel," you may say—so take it into your sleeve and see for yourself.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Names of Things 425
Headnote: "Reply (Cicada shell)"
This is a reply to the preceding poem by Ariwara no Shigeharu, saying that nothing but the sleeve could wrap such jewels, and inviting him to move this very jewel into his sleeve and see. It dispels the earlier fear that jewels would vanish in the sleeve and, like the poem it answers, hides the title "utsusemi" in the fifth line, "utsuse mimu kashi." It is a skillful poem that keeps to the title while answering as part of an exchange.
The poet, "Mibu no Tadamine," is Mibu no Tadamine, one of the compilers of the Kokinshu. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and was the father of Mibu no Tadami.
First line "Tamoto yori" means "from the sleeve," presenting the sleeve as what wraps the jewel.
Second line "hanarete tama o" means "apart from it, jewels," taking up the "jewels" of the preceding poem directly.
Third line "tsutsumame ya" joins the perfective form of "mu" with "ya" to make a rhetorical question: what else could wrap them? None. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line "kore namu sore to" uses the emphatic particle "namu," pointing out "this is the very jewel."
Fifth line "utsuse mimu kashi" is read as "move it and see," with "kashi" pressing the point, and here the title "utsusemi" is hidden.
- Author
- Mibu no Tadamine
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Nami no utsu se mireba tama zo midarekeru hirowaba sode ni hakanakaramu ya
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