木綿畳手向けの山を今日越えて
いづれの野辺に廬りせむ我れ
いづれの野辺に廬りせむ我れ
- Roma-ji
-
Yūtatami tamuke no yama o kyō koete izure no nobe ni iori semu ware
- English Translation
-
With folded mulberry cloth
I crossed the mountain of offerings
today, and now
in which of the moorlands
shall I make my lodging hut
- Meaning
- Today I crossed the mountain where travelers make offerings of folded mulberry cloth; on which moorland, I wonder, shall I build my lodging hut tonight?
- Commentary
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Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 1017
Headnote: "A poem composed by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue in the fourth month of summer, when she went to worship at the Kamo Shrine, then crossed Ōsaka Mountain, gazed out over the Sea of Ōmi, and returned at dusk"
Having crossed the mountain of offerings today, the poet wonders on which moorland she will make her lodging, thinking ahead to where her journey will lead. According to the headnote, in the fourth month of summer in Tenpyō 9 (737), Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue went to worship at the Kamo Shrine, went on over Ōsaka Mountain to look out over the Sea of Ōmi, that is, Lake Biwa, and composed this poem after returning at dusk.
In fact it was only a day trip, but in the poem she casts herself as a traveler who crosses the pass and journeys farther on, sleeping in the fields. Having crossed Ōsaka Mountain, the boundary between Yamashiro and Ōmi, she conveys both the loneliness of travel far from the capital and a lift of the heart toward new lands.
The poet, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was the daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. After Tabito's death she supported the clan as mistress of the Ōtomo household. She was the aunt of Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and when her daughter Sakanoue no Ōiratsume later became his wife, she became his mother-in-law as well. She left an especially large number of poems among the women poets of the Man'yōshū.
The first line, "With folded mulberry cloth," refers to layers of mulberry-bark cloth used as offerings to the gods, and serves as a pillow word for "offerings." It also resonates with the headnote's visit to the Kamo Shrine.
The second line, "I crossed the mountain of offerings," means a mountain pass where offerings were made to its god, here Ōsaka Mountain named in the headnote. Passes were places where travelers prayed for safety on the road.
The third line, "today, and now," marks the present moment, just after crossing the boundary mountain.
The fourth line, "in which of the moorlands," uses the interrogative "izure" to express the unease of a journey whose next lodging is not yet decided.
The final line, "shall I make my lodging hut," uses the conjectural auxiliary "mu," which answers "izure" in the fourth line to form a question. By placing "ware," "I," at the very end in an inverted order, the poem closes by impressing upon us the figure of the poet as a traveler.
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Unahara no tōki watari o miyabio no asobu o mimu to nazusai zo koshi
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Ōsaki no kami no obama wa sebakedomo momofunabito mo sugu to iwanaku ni