たよりにもあらぬ思ひのあやしきは
心を人につくるなりけり
心を人につくるなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Tayori ni mo aranu omoi no ayashiki wa kokoro o hito ni tsukuru narikeri
- English Translation
-
Though it bears no letter
how strange is this love of mine
the thing that it does
is to carry off my heart
and deliver it to you
- Meaning
- How strange it is that my longing, which is no messenger at all, carries my heart away and delivers it to you.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 480
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem marvels at how love's longing, though it is no messenger bearing letters, somehow carries the heart to the beloved of its own accord. Through the witty conceit of longing as an envoy, it expresses a love that moves toward the beloved beyond the poet's own will.
The poet "Motokata" is Ariwara no Motokata. He was a grandson of Ariwara no Narihira and the son of Ariwara no Muneyana, Governor of Chikuzen, and was later adopted by Fujiwara no Kunitsune. He is known as the author of the opening poem of the Kokinshu, "Spring has come within the year."
First line, "Though it bears no letter": tayori means a means of sending word, a messenger. It is the same word as in "the wind is the aid" of poem 472 in this book; there the wind, here longing, is treated as love's messenger.
Second line, "how strange is this love of mine": aranu omoi no means "longing, which is no messenger."
Third line, "the thing that it does": ayashiki wa means "what is strange is," and the fourth and fifth lines reveal what that is.
Fourth line, "is to carry off my heart": kokoro wo hito ni means my heart to that person.
Fifth line, "and deliver it to you": tsuku here means to entrust and deliver. Narikeri expresses assertion and the sigh of realization, showing fresh wonder at the workings of longing.
- Author
- Ariwara no Motokata
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Yamazakura kasumi no ma yori honoka ni mo miteshi hito koso koishikarikere
- Next Poem
-
Hatsukari no hatsuka ni koe o kikishi yori nakazora ni nomi mono o omou kana