ますらをや片恋せむと嘆けども
醜のますらをなほ恋ひにけり
醜のますらをなほ恋ひにけり
- Roma-ji
-
Masurao ya katakoi semu to nagekedomo shiko no masurao nao koinikeri
- English Translation
-
Should a true man
fall into a one-sided love?
So I grieve, and yet
this wretch of a so-called man
has fallen in love once more.
- Meaning
- Should a man of spirit ever pine in one-sided love? So I lament, and yet this wretched excuse for a man has fallen in love all the same.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Love Poems 117
Headnote: "A poem by Prince Toneri"
Though he scolds himself that a true man should never pine in one-sided love, he has fallen in love nonetheless, and mocks himself as "a wretch of a man."
Lady Toneri's answer follows in the next poem, forming an exchange in which she takes up his words of lament.
The author, Prince Toneri, was a son of Emperor Tenmu who presided over the compilation of the Nihon shoki. He was the father of Emperor Junnin.
In the first line, "masurao ya," ya is rhetorical: should a true man ever do so? The next poem, 118, answers with the word "masurao no ko."
The second line, "katakoi semu to," means "that I should love in vain."
The third line, "nagekedomo," is concessive: though I lament.
In the fourth line, "shiko no masurao," shiko is a word of self-abuse: a pitiful man. It turns the "true man" of the first line upside down.
In the final line, "nao koinikeri," nikeri marks completion and realization: still, I have fallen in love.
- Author
- Prince Toneri
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Hitogoto o shigemi kochitami ono ga yo ni imada wataranu asakawa wataru
- Next Poem
-
Nagekitsutsu masurao no ko no koure koso waga kamiyui no hichite nurekere