しののめのほがらほがらと明けゆけば
おのがきぬぎぬなるぞ悲しき
おのがきぬぎぬなるぞ悲しき
- Roma-ji
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Shinonome no hogara hogara to akeyukeba onoga kinuginu naru zo kanashiki
- English Translation
-
At the eastern dawn,
as the sky grows bright and clear,
brightening to day,
each must take back their own robe;
how sad our parting is
- Meaning
- As the eastern sky brightens and the day breaks clear, each of us must put on our own robe and part; how sad it is.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 637
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
As dawn breaks and the sky brightens, the lovers who slept together must each put on their own robes and part, and the poet grieves at it. Kinuginu, from the lovers taking back the robes they had spread together, came to mean the parting on the morning after. The brightness of the dawning sky contrasts with the sorrow of parting.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
Here begins the group of poems on parting at dawn. The next two poems, 638 and 639, both open with "saying it is dawn," and 640 likewise opens with "shinonome no," continuing the theme of parting at daybreak.
The first line, "shinonome no," refers to the time when the eastern sky faintly brightens at dawn.
The second line, "hogara hogara to," is a mimetic expression for the sky growing bright and clear.
The third line, "akeyukeba," means "as it dawns," a confirmed condition.
The fourth line, "onoga kinuginu," means "each one's own robe," expressing the parting on the morning after, when the shared robes are divided.
The final line, "naru zo kanashiki," means "how sad that it comes to this," closing the zo construction with the attributive kanashiki.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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