よそにのみ聞かましものをおとは川
渡るとなしにみなれそめけむ
渡るとなしにみなれそめけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Yoso ni nomi kikamashi mono o otowagawa wataru to nashi ni minaresomekemu
- English Translation
-
I should have only
heard of you from far away;
Otowa River,
why, not meaning to cross you,
did I come to know your flow?
- Meaning
- I should have been content to hear of you only from afar. Why, without ever meaning to cross the Otowa River, did I come to know you so well?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 749
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poem regrets growing close to someone who should have remained a mere rumor, drawn in without ever intending a deep bond. Knowing now the pain of love, the speaker looks back to where it began.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kanesuke no Ason," is Fujiwara no Kanesuke, son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, who rose to Middle Counselor of the junior third rank. His house on the Kamo River embankment earned him the name Tsutsumi Middle Counselor, and he was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line means "only from afar," viewing the other as someone unconnected to oneself.
The second line uses the counterfactual mashi: I should have only heard of you. Mono o adds concessive regret.
The third line names the Otowa River in Yamashiro, whose name contains oto, "sound" or "rumor," echoing "heard" in the second line. The river leads to "cross" and to minare in what follows.
The fourth line means "without meaning to cross," that is, without resolving to enter a deep bond. "Cross" is an associated word for the river.
In the last line minare means both "to grow used to seeing" and "to be steeped in water." Kemu asks the cause in the past: why did I come to know you?
- Author
- Fujiwara no Kanesuke
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Hanasusuki ware koso shita ni omoishika ho ni idete hito ni musubare ni keri
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Waga gotoku ware o omowamu hito mo gana sate mo ya uki to yo o kokoromimu