一重のみ妹が結ばむ帯をすら
三重結ぶべく我が身はなりぬ
三重結ぶべく我が身はなりぬ
- Roma-ji
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Hitoe nomi imo ga musubamu obi o sura mie musububeku waga mi wa narinu
- English Translation
-
Just a single turn,
so my love would tie her sash,
yet this very sash
I could wind around three times,
so worn thin my body is
- Meaning
- A sash my love would tie with a single turn, I could now wind three times around me, so thin have I become.
- Commentary
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Book Four Love Poems 742
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Fifteen more poems sent by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi to the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue"
He has wasted away with love until he could wind three times around him a sash she would tie with one turn. This too is thought to draw on Youxianku, a concrete exaggeration of love's wasting.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito and a poet thought to have been deeply involved in compiling the Man'yōshū. He later rose to the rank of Middle Counselor.
First line, "Just a single turn," means only once around.
Second line, "so my love would tie her sash," means as my love would tie it.
Third line, "yet this very sash," uses sura, "even": even a sash.
Fourth line, "I could wind around three times," sets "three times" against "a single turn" in the first line.
Fifth line, "so worn thin my body is," uses the perfective nu: my body has become so.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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