Hitogoto o shigemi ka kimi ga futasaya no ie o hedatete koitsutsu masamu

人言を繁みか君が二鞘の
家を隔てて恋ひつつまさむ

Roma-ji: Hitogoto o shigemi ka kimi ga futasaya no ie o hedatete koitsutsu masamu
English Translation: Is it people's talk,
thick as it is, that keeps you,
like two blades in sheaths,
in a house apart from mine,
longing, though so near to me
Meaning: Is it because the gossip is so thick that you stay in your own house, separated from me like two swords in one scabbard, longing all the while?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 685

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Seven poems by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
Is it because of gossip that he stays apart in his own house though so near, longing all the while? she wonders of a man who does not come. Futasaya, two swords in one scabbard, is taken as a figure for things close together yet divided.
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, "Is it people's talk," names people's gossip.
Second line, "thick as it is, that keeps you," uses the questioning ka: is it because it is so thick? It is closed by mu in the fifth line.
Third line, "like two blades in sheaths," names futasaya, a double scabbard, taken as a pillow word for "separate" from its partition.
Fourth line, "in a house apart from mine," means keeping our houses apart.
Fifth line, "longing, though so near to me," uses the honorific masu: are you, I wonder, longing on?
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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