石見なる高角山の木の間ゆも
我が袖振るを妹見けむかも
我が袖振るを妹見けむかも
- Roma-ji
-
Iwami naru takatsunoyama no ko no ma yu mo waga sode furu o imo mikemu kamo
- English Translation
-
In Iwami there,
from between the trees that grow
on Mount Takatsuno,
as I waved my sleeve to her—
did my dear one see it then?
- Meaning
- From between the trees of Mount Takatsuno in Iwami, I waved my sleeve to her—did my beloved see it then?
- Commentary
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Book Two Love Poems 134
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro when he parted from his wife in the province of Iwami and came up to the capital, an envoy in another text reads"
He wonders whether his wife saw the sleeve he waved through the trees on Mount Takatsuno; this is the form of 132 found in another text.
The sequence Hitomaro composed when he parted from his wife in Iwami and traveled up to the capital is known as the Iwami love poems and is famous as one of his masterpieces. This poem was appended as an envoy found in another text, and it differs slightly from 132 in the first, third, fourth, and fifth lines. In particular, the ending shifts from the present conjecture "mitsuramu ka" to the past conjecture "mikemu kamo," giving a sense of time having passed.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. A master of the long poem and the elegy, he is the representative poet of the Man'yōshū and was later revered as the Saint of Poetry.
In the first line, "iwami naru," naru expresses location: "which is in Iwami." In 132 it reads "iwami no ya."
The second line, "takatsunoyama no," is identical to that of 132.
In the third line, "ko no ma yu mo," yu is a particle marking the route: "through the trees as well."
The fourth line, "waga sode furu o," means "my waving of the sleeve."
In the final line, "imo mikemu kamo," kemu is past conjecture and kamo exclamatory: did she see it? The tone looks back after a little time has passed.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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