佐保過ぎて奈良の手向けに置く幣は
妹を目離れず相見しめとぞ
妹を目離れず相見しめとぞ
- Roma-ji
-
Saho sugite Nara no tamuke ni oku nusa wa imo o mekarezu aimishime to zo
- English Translation
-
Passing by Saho,
at the pass of Nara Hill
the offering I leave
is a prayer: let me see my wife
ever and never apart.
- Meaning
- Passing Saho, I leave an offering to the god of the pass on Nara Hill with this prayer: let me see my wife always, never kept from her sight.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 300
Headnote: "Two poems composed by Prince Nagaya when he halted his horse on Nara Hill"
At the start of a journey, the prince halted his horse at the pass over Nara Hill and made an offering to the god of the road. He says his prayer is less for a safe journey than that he may always see his wife, frankly expressing his love for the wife he leaves at home. It forms a pair with the next poem.
The poet, Prince Nagaya, was a grandson of Emperor Tenmu and son of Prince Takechi. He rose to Minister of the Left but was driven to take his own life in the Nagaya Incident of Jinki 6 (729).
First line "Passing by Saho": Saho, northeast of the Heijō capital, was where Prince Nagaya's residence stood.
Second line "at the pass of Nara Hill": tamuke is the rite of offering to the god of a pass for safe travel, or the place itself, here the pass over Nara Hill.
Third line "the offering I leave": nusa are strips of cloth offered to the gods.
Fourth line "let me see my wife": mekaru means to be parted from sight, here negated—never to lose sight of her.
Fifth line "ever and never apart": shime is the imperative of the causative shimu, "let me see her," and zo strongly marks the content of the prayer.
- Author
- Prince Nagaya
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Okuyama no suga no ha shinogi furu yuki no kenaba oshikemu ame na furi so ne
- Next Poem
-
Iwagane no kogoshiki yama o koekanete ne ni wa naku tomo iro ni ideme ya mo