かくばかりあふひのまれになる人を
いかがつらしと思はざるべき
いかがつらしと思はざるべき
- Roma-ji
-
Kaku bakari au hi no mare ni naru hito o ikaga tsurashi to omowazaru beki
- English Translation
-
When one has become
so rare in the days we meet,
how could I not feel,
toward such a one as this,
the bitterness of heartache?
- Meaning
- When the days we meet have grown this rare, how could I not find such a person cruel?
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Names of Things 433
Headnote: "Hollyhock, katsura"
This poem asks how one could not feel bitter toward a lover whose meeting days have become so rare. It hides the title "aoi" (hollyhock) in "au hi" (day of meeting) in the second line and the title "katsura" in "ikaga tsurashi" in the fourth, fitting two titles into one poem. Hollyhock and katsura were paired as decorations at the Kamo Festival, which is likely why the titles are set together. The next poem, 434, takes the same titles and answers from the side of the one who stays away, forming a pair with this poem of the one left waiting.
The poet is recorded as "anonymous," and the name has not come down to us.
First line "Kaku bakari" means "to such a degree," stressing how few the meetings are.
Second line "au hi no mare ni" means "the days of meeting grown rare." "Au hi" puns on "day of meeting" and the title "aoi" (hollyhock).
Third line "naru hito o" means "the one who has become so."
Fourth line "ikaga tsurashi to" uses "ikaga" rhetorically, and the title "katsura" is hidden in "ikaga tsurashi."
Fifth line "omowazaru beki" answers "ikaga," closing with the sense "how could I not feel it cruel? I cannot help but feel so."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Hitome yue nochi ni au hi no harukeku wa waga tsuraki ni ya omoinasaremu