はねかづら今する妹はなかりしを
いづれの妹ぞここだ恋ひたる
いづれの妹ぞここだ恋ひたる
- Roma-ji
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Hanekazura ima suru imo wa nakarishi o izure no imo zo kokoda koitaru
- English Translation
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With the hanekazura
newly set, there was no girl,
there was none at all;
which girl, then, is it you love,
longing for her all this much
- Meaning
- There was no girl just now wearing the hanekazura; so which girl is it that you are longing for so much?
- Commentary
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Book Four Love Poems 706
Headnote: "A poem in reply by the young girl, who came to answer"
The girl answers Yakamochi's poem: there was no girl who had just put on the hanekazura, so which girl is it that he longs for so much? she retorts with feigned innocence. It is a witty reply using the same opening as his poem.
The author is the young girl to whom Yakamochi sent his poem; her name has not come down.
First line, "With the hanekazura," opens the same way as the preceding poem.
Second line, "newly set, there was no girl," takes up the second line of his poem.
Third line, "there was none at all," uses the concessive o: though there was none.
Fourth line, "which girl, then, is it you love," asks which girl, with zo closed by ru in the fifth line.
Fifth line, "longing for her all this much," means are you so much in love?
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Hanekazura ima suru imo o ime ni mite kokoro no uchi ni koiwataru kamo
- Next Poem
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Omoiyaru sube no shiraneba katamoi no soko ni zo are wa koinarinikeru