いづくにか舟乗りしけむ高島の
香取の浦ゆ漕ぎ出来る舟
香取の浦ゆ漕ぎ出来る舟
- Roma-ji
-
Izuku ni ka funanori shikemu takashima no katori no ura yu kogidekuru fune
- English Translation
-
Where did they set out
and first go aboard, I wonder—
at Takashima
from the bay of Katori
the boat that comes rowing out?
- Meaning
- Where did they board, I wonder—the boat that comes rowing out from the bay of Katori at Takashima?
- Commentary
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Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1172
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
Watching a boat row out from the bay of Katori at Takashima, the poet wonders where it first set out. Curiosity about an unknown boat is tinged with a traveler's wistful mood.
Like the preceding poem it sings of Takashima in Ōmi, and the two form a pair. The first line, "Where," is the same as the third line of poem 1169 in this book, a questioning form shared by these poems on the lake. The poet is unknown.
In the first line, "Where did they set out," the particle "ka" is answered by "kemu" in the second line; the same words form the third line of poem 1169.
The second line, "and first go aboard, I wonder," closes in the attributive in response to "ka," and the poem pauses here.
The third line names Takashima, as in the preceding poem.
In the fourth line, "yu" marks the starting point: "from the bay of Katori."
The final line ends with the noun "fune" (boat), giving the object of the question by inversion.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Ōmifune hatete samorau takashima no mio no katsuno no nagisa shi omōyu
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Hidabito no maki nagasu to iu nifu no kawa koto wa kayoedo fune zo kayowanu