あひ見ぬも憂きも我が身のから衣
思ひ知らずも解くる紐かな
思ひ知らずも解くる紐かな
- Roma-ji
-
Aiminu mo uki mo waga mi no karakoromo omoishirazu mo tokuru himo kana
- English Translation
-
That we cannot meet,
that I suffer, is my own fault,
and yet my robe's cord
knowing nothing of all this
comes undone all on its own
- Meaning
- It is my own fault that we cannot meet and that I suffer, yet the cord of my fine robe, knowing nothing of this, comes untied as if to promise your coming.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 808
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Though it is her own fault that she cannot meet her lover and suffers, the cord of her robe, a sign of a coming meeting, comes untied without knowing this. Drawing on the belief that a cord loosening means someone is thinking of you, she looks resentfully at the cord that raises futile hopes. Like the warekara of the preceding poem, it finds the cause of sorrow in oneself.
The author, "Inaba," is Inaba, the court name of a lady-in-waiting about whom little is known.
The first line, "not meeting, too," is paired by mo with uki mo in the second line.
The second line, "the pain too," with waga mi no, "my own," leading to kara in the third line.
In the third line kara is a pivot word, meaning both "because of" and karakoromo, a fine robe. It also echoes warekara in the preceding poem.
In the fourth line zu mo adds exclamatory mo to the negative, "without understanding," personifying the cord.
The last line names the under-cord loosening on its own, a sign of meeting one's lover, and closes with a resentful kana.
- Author
- Inaba
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ama no karu mo ni sumu mushi no warekara to ne o koso nakame yo o ba uramiji
- Next Poem
-
Tsurenaki o ima wa koiji to omoedomo kokoro yowaku mo otsuru namida ka