玉櫛笥覆ふを安み明けていなば
君が名はあれど吾が名し惜しも
君が名はあれど吾が名し惜しも
- Roma-ji
-
Tamakushige ou o yasumi akete inaba kimi ga na wa aredo waga na shi oshi mo
- English Translation
-
As the jeweled comb box
is easy to close, you think—
if you leave at dawn,
your name may come to no harm,
but mine I would hate to lose.
- Meaning
- Thinking it as easy to hide as closing the lid of a comb box, you would leave after the dawn has broken; your name may not suffer, but I would hate to see my own name spoken of.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Love Poems 93
Headnote: "A poem sent by Princess Kagami to the Palace Minister when Lord Fujiwara, the Palace Minister, was courting her"
If he leaves after daybreak, people will know; his name may not matter, but hers does. With this, Princess Kagami gently rebukes Fujiwara no Kamatari.
According to the headnote, this is the poem she sent to Kamatari when he was courting her. It is known as a witty poem that strings together words associated with the comb box.
The author, Princess Kagami, is of uncertain parentage; one theory makes her the elder sister of Princess Nukata. She is said to have later become the wife of Fujiwara no Kamatari.
The first line, "tamakushige," is a beautiful box for combs; from closing its lid it leads to ou, "to cover," and from opening it to ake, "to open" or "to dawn."
In the second line, "ou o yasumi," the construction o ... mi expresses cause: because it is easy to close. It implies that he thinks their affair easy to hide.
The third line, "akete inaba," is a pivot word joining ake, opening the lid, and ake, the breaking of dawn: if you leave after daybreak.
The fourth line, "kimi ga na wa aredo," means "your name may be well enough."
In the final line, "waga na shi oshi mo," shi is intensive and mo exclamatory: it is my own name I would regret.
- Author
- Princess Kagami
- Source
- Manyoshu
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