朝髪の思ひ乱れてかくばかり
汝姉が恋ふれぞ夢に見えける
汝姉が恋ふれぞ夢に見えける
- Roma-ji
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Asakami no omoimidarete kaku bakari nane ga koure zo ime ni miekeru
- English Translation
-
Like the morning hair,
all your thoughts in disarray,
you, my dearest girl,
since you long for me so much
I have seen you in my dreams
- Meaning
- It is because you long for me so much, your thoughts tangled like hair in the morning, my dear girl, that you have appeared in my dreams.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Love Poems 724
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the long poem (723) Lady Sakanoue sent from the Tomi estate to her daughter, the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue, left at home. It is because her daughter longs for her so, thoughts tangled like hair in the morning, that she appeared in her dreams. According to the left note, it answers a poem sent by the daughter. A mother's love for her daughter is expressed in the language of love poetry.
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, "Like the morning hair," is asakami no, a pillow word for "tangled," from hair disordered in the morning.
Second line, "all your thoughts in disarray," means troubled in mind.
Third line, "you, my dearest girl," means this much.
Fourth line, "since you long for me so much," uses nane, an affectionate word for a woman, here her daughter; koure zo means precisely because you long, zo being closed by keru.
Fifth line, "I have seen you in my dreams," ends in the attributive keru: you have appeared in my dreams.
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
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