あしひきの山のしづくに妹待つと
我れ立ち濡れぬ山のしづくに
我れ立ち濡れぬ山のしづくに
- Roma-ji
-
Ashihiki no yama no shizuku ni imo matsu to ware tachi nurenu yama no shizuku ni
- English Translation
-
In the dripping dew
of the foot-wearying hills,
waiting for you, love,
I stood until I was soaked,
in the dripping of the hills.
- Meaning
- Waiting for you, my love, I stood until I was soaked by the drops falling from the mountain trees—by the drops of the mountain.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Love Poems 107
Headnote: "A poem sent by Prince Ōtsu to Lady Ishikawa"
Repeating "in the drops of the mountain," the poem conveys both how long he waited and how much he longed, saying he stood until the mountain drips had soaked him.
According to the headnote, Prince Ōtsu sent this to Lady Ishikawa, and her reply follows in the next poem. Within its light rhythm lies a gentle reproach to the lover who did not come to the meeting place.
The author, Prince Ōtsu, was a son of Emperor Tenmu; his mother was Princess Ōta, a daughter of Emperor Tenji. He was renowned for both learning and martial skill, but after Emperor Tenmu's death he was ordered to take his own life on a charge of treason.
The first line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word for yama, "mountain." The next poem, 108, answers with the same pillow word in its third line.
The second line, "yama no shizuku ni," means "in the dew and drops falling from the mountain trees."
The third line, "imo matsu to," means "waiting for you, my love."
In the fourth line, "ware tachi nurenu," nu is perfective, and the poem pauses here. It shares the phrase "ware tachi nureshi" with 105 by Princess Ōku in this book: the sister soaked as she sees her brother off and the prince soaked as he waits for his lover form a pair of the one who sends and the one who waits.
The final line, "yama no shizuku ni," repeats the second line exactly; it also works as an inversion, leaving a vivid image of the dripping scene.
- Author
- Prince Ōtsu
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Futari yukedo yukisugikataki akiyama o ika ni ka kimi ga hitori koyuramu
- Next Poem
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A o matsu to kimi ga nurekemu ashihiki no yama no shizuku ni naramashi mono o