風流士に我れはありけりやど貸さず
帰しし我れぞ風流士にはある
帰しし我れぞ風流士にはある
- Roma-ji
-
Miyabio ni ware wa arikeri yado kasazu kaeshishi ware zo miyabio ni wa aru
- English Translation
-
A man of refinement
that is just what I have been:
giving you no lodging,
sending you off home again—
that is true refinement.
- Meaning
- It turns out I am indeed a man of refinement: the one who gave you no lodging and sent you home is the true man of refinement.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Love Poems 127
Headnote: "A poem sent in reply by Ōtomo no Sukune Tanushi"
Answering the jibe that he is a dull-witted man of refinement, he retorts that the one who refused the invitation and sent her home without lodging is precisely the true man of refinement.
Using the words of the preceding poem as they stand, he reverses their logic, and the wit of this playful exchange stands out.
The author, Ōtomo no Tanushi, was the son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and Lady Kose, and a younger brother of Ōtomo no Tabito. A note to the headnote calls him the second son of Lord Ōtomo, the Saho Major Counselor, and the left note to the preceding poem says his familiar name was Nakachiko and that he was known as a handsome man of refinement.
The first line, "miyabio ni," takes up the word miyabio from the first line of the preceding poem.
In the second line, "ware wa arikeri," keri expresses realization: it is I who was the man of refinement. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "yado kasazu," uses the third line of the preceding poem unchanged.
In the fourth line, "kaeshishi ware zo," zo is a binding particle concluding in the attributive aru of the final line.
The final line, "miyabio ni wa aru," means "is the true man of refinement," resolving the binding of zo. By placing miyabio in both the first and last lines, he turns her irony against her.
- Author
- Ōtomo no Tanushi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Miyabio to ware wa kikeru o yado kasazu ware o kaeseri oso no miyabio
- Next Poem
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Waga kikishi mimi ni yoku niru ashi no ure no ashi hiku waga se tsutome tabu beshi