たけばぬれたかねば長き妹が髪
このころ見ぬに掻き入れつらむか
このころ見ぬに掻き入れつらむか
- Roma-ji
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Takeba nure takaneba nagaki imo ga kami kono koro minu ni kakiiretsuramu ka
- English Translation
-
When bound up, it slips;
when left unbound, it is long—
my young wife's hair:
these days I have not seen her,
has she combed it up at last?
- Meaning
- Bound up, it slips loose; left down, it is too long—my young wife's hair. In these days I have not seen her, has she combed it up and tied it?
- Commentary
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Book Two Love Poems 123
Headnote: "Three poems composed when the novice Mikata, not long after marrying the daughter of Sono no Omi Ikuha, fell ill and took to his bed"
Unable to see his wife while he lies ill, he wonders whether she has already bound up her long hair. Binding up the hair was a sign of a grown woman and a married wife.
According to the headnote, these are three poems from the time when the novice Mikata fell ill soon after marrying the daughter of Sono no Omi Ikuha, and small notes, "Novice Mikata" or "the maiden," appended to each poem identify the speaker. The sequence is an exchange: the husband's question, the wife's answer, and the husband's lament. This is the first; the note "Novice Mikata" at its end has been removed from the text of the poem.
The author, the novice Mikata, is otherwise unknown. Shami was the title of a newly ordained monk, and one theory identifies him with Yamada no Mikata, who later returned to lay life.
In the first line, "takeba nure," taku means to gather and bind the hair up, and nuru means for bound hair to come loose. The next poem, 124, answers with the word take.
The second line, "takaneba nagaki," means "if left unbound, too long," pairing with the first line to describe hair still a little short for binding.
The third line, "imo ga kami," means "my wife's hair."
The fourth line, "kono koro minu ni," means "since I have not seen her lately," showing that illness keeps him from her.
In the final line, "kakiiretsuramu ka," kakiiru means to comb up and tuck the hair in, tsuramu marks completion and present conjecture, and ka is interrogative: has she bound it up by now?
- Author
- Novice Mikata
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Ōbune no hatsuru tomari no tayutai ni monomoi yasenu hito no ko yue ni
- Next Poem
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Hito mina wa ima wa nagashi to take to iedo kimi ga mishi kami midaretari tomo