浅茅原つばらつばらにもの思へば
古りにし里し思ほゆるかも
古りにし里し思ほゆるかも
- Roma-ji
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Asajihara tsubara tsubara ni mono moeba furinishi sato shi omooyuru kamo
- English Translation
-
Like a field of reeds,
deeply, deeply, on and on,
as I sit and brood,
the village of long ago
keeps coming to my mind.
- Meaning
- As I sink into thought, long and deep, the old village of my past keeps coming back to my mind.
- Commentary
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Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 333
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems by the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo"
This is the third of the five poems of the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo. Brooding deeply in far-off Tsukushi, he finds the old village of his home rising unbidden in his mind—a quiet, heartfelt homesickness. The echoing sounds from asajihara to tsubara tsubara convey the depth of his feeling.
The five poems of the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo form a sequence longing for the Nara capital and for his home, placed after the poems of Ono no Oyu and Ōtomo no Yotsuna.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was a son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro. He served as Middle Counselor and Governor-General of Dazaifu before rising to Great Counselor, and died in Tenpyō 3 (731). Steeped in Chinese letters, he was at the center of a poetic circle with Yamanoue no Okura and others while serving in Tsukushi.
First line "Like a field of reeds": asajihara, a field of low cogon grass, is a pillow word leading by sound to tsubara.
Second line "deeply, deeply, on and on": tsubara tsubara ni is an adverb meaning thoroughly, pensively.
Third line "as I sit and brood" means while lost in thought.
Fourth line "the village of long ago": the old village where he once lived, thought to be around Asuka; shi is emphatic.
Fifth line "keeps coming to my mind": omooyuru kamo ends with a sigh of wonder.
- Author
- Ōtomo no Tabito
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Waga inochi mo tsune ni aranu ka mukashi mishi Kisa no ogawa o yukite mimu tame
- Next Poem
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Wasuregusa waga himo ni tsuku Kaguyama no furinishi sato o wasuremu ga tame