大伴の高師の浜の松が根を
枕き寝れど家し偲はゆ
枕き寝れど家し偲はゆ
- Roma-ji
-
Ōtomo no takashi no hama no matsu ga ne o makuraki nuredo ie shi shinowayu
- English Translation
-
On Takashi's shore
in Ōtomo, the pine roots
serve me for a pillow,
yet though I sleep upon them,
how my thoughts turn to my home!
- Meaning
- Though I sleep with the roots of the pines on Takashi's shore at Ōtomo for my pillow, my thoughts keep turning to home.
- Commentary
-
Book One Miscellaneous Poems 66
Headnote: "Poems from the journey of the Retired Empress to the Naniwa Palace"
On Retired Empress Jitō's journey to Naniwa, the poet sings of homesickness: though he sleeps with the roots of the pines on Takashi's shore for a pillow, he cannot stop thinking of home. The forlornness of sleeping on the road with pine roots for a pillow and the longing for home are frankly expressed. The left note names the author as Okisome no Azumabito.
Okisome no Azumabito is a figure whose life is unknown. The Man'yōshū also preserves his elegies lamenting the death of Prince Yuge.
The first line, Ōtomo no, is an old name for the Naniwa area, here qualifying Takashi. Like "Mitsu in Ōtomo" in poem 63 of this book, it names the land of Naniwa.
The second line names the shore of Takashi in Izumi Province, around present-day Takaishi in Osaka Prefecture.
The third line, "the pine roots," shows a traveler sleeping with a shoreline pine's roots for a pillow.
In the fourth line, maku means to use as a pillow, and the concessive do gives "though I sleep pillowed on them."
In the last line, shi is emphatic and shinowayu means "is spontaneously longed for": "my home comes to my heart." Like "Yamato shi omōyu" in poem 64 of this book, it closes by thinking of home with the emphatic shi.
- Author
- Okisome no Azumabito
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Arare utsu arare matsubara suminoe no otohiotome to miredo akanu kamo
- Next Poem
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Tabi ni shite mono kohoshiki ni tazu ga ne mo kikoezu ariseba koite shinamashi