海人の刈る藻に住む虫のわれからと
音をこそなかめ世をば恨みじ
音をこそなかめ世をば恨みじ
- Roma-ji
-
Ama no karu mo ni sumu mushi no warekara to ne o koso nakame yo o ba uramiji
- English Translation
-
As the tiny shells
dwelling in the weeds that fishers
reap are called "myself,"
so it's my fault, and I'll weep aloud,
but I'll not blame our bond
- Meaning
- Like the tiny creature called warekara that lives in the seaweed fishermen gather, I know it is warekara, my own fault. I may cry aloud, but I will not resent the bond between us.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 807
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Since the pain of love is of her own making, she will cry aloud but not resent her lover or their bond. The name of the warekara, a tiny crustacean living in seaweed, is punned with ware kara, "from myself," entrusting self-reproach to a seaside image.
This poem also appears in section sixty-five of The Tales of Ise, as a woman's poem.
The author, "Naishi no Suke Fujiwara no Naoiko no Ason," is Fujiwara no Naoiko, a court lady who served as Assistant Handmaid. She received the junior fifth rank, lower grade, in 874 and the senior fourth rank, lower grade, in 902.
The first line names the seaweed that fishers cut, leading to mo, "seaweed," in the second line.
The second line, "the creature living in the seaweed," is a preface leading to warekara in the third line.
In the third line warekara is a pivot word, naming a tiny crustacean living in seaweed and meaning "from myself."
In the fourth line ne means voice, and naka suggests both the creature crying and the speaker weeping. Koso resolved by the perfective me becomes concessive: I may weep, and yet.
In the last line yo means the relationship, and ji expresses negative intent: I will not resent it. She blames herself, not her lover.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Naoiko
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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