言ふ言の畏き国ぞ紅の
色にな出でそ思ひ死ぬとも
色にな出でそ思ひ死ぬとも
- Roma-ji
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Iu koto no kashikoki kuni zo kurenai no iro ni na ide so omoishinu tomo
- English Translation
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In this land of ours,
people's words are dreadful things;
like the crimson dye,
never let your love show through,
even if you die of longing
- Meaning
- This is a land where people's words are to be feared; never let your love show like crimson dye, even if you die of longing.
- Commentary
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Book Four Love Poems 683
Headnote: "Seven poems by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
This is the first of seven poems by Lady Sakanoue. Since this is a world where gossip is to be feared, she warns, one must never let love show in one's face, even if one dies of it. The vivid crimson dramatizes a love that threatens to show.
The author, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She left many poems in the Man'yōshū and is esteemed as a leading woman poet.
First line, "In this land of ours," means the words people say.
Second line, "people's words are dreadful things," means this is a fearsome land; the poem breaks after this line.
Third line, "like the crimson dye," is kurenai no, a pillow word for iro ni izu, "to show in one's color," since safflower red is vivid.
Fourth line, "never let your love show through," uses the prohibitive na ... so: do not let it show.
Fifth line, "even if you die of longing," shows by inversion the strength of her resolve.
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Omouramu hito ni aranaku ni nemokoro ni kokoro tsukushite kouru are kamo
- Next Poem
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Ima wa wa wa shinamu yo waga se ikeri tomo ware ni yorubeshi to iu to iwanaku ni