わたつみの我が身越す波立ち返り
海人の住むてふうらみつるかな
海人の住むてふうらみつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Watatsumi no waga mi kosu nami tachikaeri ama no sumu chō uramitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Like the ocean waves
that wash over me and break,
returning again,
at the shore where fishers dwell
I have gazed, and felt such blame
- Meaning
- Like great waves of the sea that wash over me and return again and again, I have gazed upon the bay where the fishers are said to live, and so, again and again, I have resented you.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 816
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
As great waves strong enough to wash over one's body break again and again, so the speaker has resented the lover over and over. Punning ura mi, "gazing at the bay," with urami, "resentment," it layers the waves and the shore with resentment that keeps welling up however it is suppressed.
The first line names the sea god, and by extension the great ocean.
The second line, "waves that wash over me," hints at the violence of uncontainable feeling.
The third line layers waves breaking again and again with repetition, an associated word for waves.
In the fourth line chō is a contraction of to iu: the bay where fishers are said to live, leading to ura in the last line.
In the last line urami is a pivot word, meaning both gazing at the bay and resentment. Tsuru kana expresses completion and exclamation: I have resented you.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yū sareba hito naki toko o uchiharai nagekamu tame to nareru waga mi ka
- Next Poem
-
Arao da o ara sukikaeshi kaeshite mo hito no kokoro o mite koso yame