かくのみにありけるものを妹も我れも
千年のごとく頼みたりけり
千年のごとく頼みたりけり
- Roma-ji
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Kaku nomi ni arikeru mono o imo mo are mo chitose no gotoku tanomitarikeri
- English Translation
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Though it was to be
no more than this in the end,
my love and I both
as though it would last a thousand years
had trusted in each other.
- Meaning
- Though it was only ever to end like this, my wife and I trusted in each other as though we would last a thousand years.
- Commentary
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Book Three Elegies 470
Headnote: "Five more poems composed while grief had not yet ceased"
This is the first of five poems composed while his grief had not yet ceased. Though they were fated to part like this, he and his wife relied on each other as though their life would last a thousand years—regret for days of trust that knew nothing of life's frailty. Yo no Myōgun's poem 455 in this book also begins "Though it was to be no more than this," voicing lament at death's decree in the same phrase.
This belongs to a sequence of elegies that Ōtomo no Yakamochi composed from the sixth month of summer into autumn in Tenpyō 11 (739), mourning his late concubine.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and a Nara-period official. He served as Governor of Etchū and of Inaba, among other posts, rose to Middle Counselor, and died in Enryaku 4 (785). He is thought to have been deeply involved in compiling the Man'yōshū.
First line "Though it was to be" refers to their fated parting; it is the same first line as poem 455.
Second line "no more than this in the end": mono o is concessive.
Third line "my love and I both" has one syllable too many.
Fourth line "as though it would last a thousand years" means as if forever.
Fifth line "had trusted in each other": keri voices realization, ending in grief understood only now.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Imo ga mishi yado ni hana saki toki wa henu waga naku namida imada hinaku ni
- Next Poem
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Iezakari imasu wagimo o todomekane yamagakushitsure kokorodo mo nashi