奥山の岩本菅を根深めて
結びし心忘れかねつも
結びし心忘れかねつも
- Roma-ji
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Okuyama no iwamotosuge o ne fukamete musubishi kokoro wasurekanetsu mo
- English Translation
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In the deep mountains,
sedges at the foot of rocks
send their roots down deep—
so deep the bond my heart tied,
I cannot forget it now.
- Meaning
- Like the sedge rooted deep at the foot of the rocks in the far mountains, the heart with which I bound our pledge runs deep—I cannot forget it.
- Commentary
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Book Three Allegorical Poems 397
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems sent by Lady Kasa to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
This poem belongs to the section of Allegorical Poems in Book Three. It is the third of the three poems Lady Kasa sent to Yakamochi, closing the sequence. Like sedge rooting deep at the base of rocks in the remote mountains, the pledge she bound from the bottom of her heart cannot be forgotten—a plea of unchanging love. The first two lines form a preface leading to "send their roots down deep," overlaying the depth of the sedge's roots with the depth of her feeling.
Lady Kasa's three poems sent to Ōtomo no Yakamochi form a sequence expressing her love through plants—the gromwell, the grassy plain, and the sedge.
The poet, Lady Kasa, was a woman poet of the Nara period known for sending love poems to Ōtomo no Yakamochi, for whom she felt deep affection.
First line "In the deep mountains" means remote heights.
Second line "sedges at the foot of rocks": up to here is the preface leading to "roots down deep."
Third line "send their roots down deep" turns from the depth of the sedge's roots to "from the depth of the heart."
Fourth line "so deep the bond my heart tied": musubu means both tying grass and making a pledge.
Fifth line "I cannot forget it now": tsu is perfective and mo exclamatory.
- Author
- Lady Kasa
- Source
- Manyoshu
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