つれもなき人を恋ふとて山彦の
こたへするまで嘆きつるかな
こたへするまで嘆きつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Tsure mo naki hito o kou tote yamabiko no kotae suru made nagekitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
For one so heartless
because I have come to love her
I have sighed so loud
that the echo of the hills
has answered back my cries
- Meaning
- Loving one so cold, I have lamented so loudly that even the mountain echo has answered me.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 521
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet, loving a cold beloved, sings that he lamented so loudly that the mountain echo answered back. It carries the irony that while the beloved makes no response at all, only the echo answers. Through exaggeration it impresses the magnitude of a lament for unrequited love.
First line, "For one so heartless": tsure mo naki means cold or indifferent. Poem 486 of this book begins with the same phrase, "tsure mo naki hito wo."
Second line, "because I have come to love her": hito wo kou tote means "because I love that person."
Third line, "I have sighed so loud": yamabiko, the echo in the mountains, was thought to be the answering voice of the mountain god. Poem 539 of this book also sings of the echo, entrusting to it love's call in the belief that no mountain will fail to answer.
Fourth line, "that the echo of the hills": kotae suru made means "until it answered," containing the contrast that the cold beloved does not answer while the echo does.
Fifth line, "has answered back my cries": nagekitsuru kana means "how I have lamented," with kana an exclamatory final particle.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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