我妹子と見つつ偲はむ沖つ藻の
花咲きたらば我れに告げこそ
花咲きたらば我れに告げこそ
- Roma-ji
-
Wagimoko to mitsutsu shinowamu okitsumo no hana sakitaraba ware ni tsuge koso
- English Translation
-
As if she were my love
I would gaze and cherish them;
of the offshore weed,
when its flowers come to bloom,
pray you, bring me word
- Meaning
- I will gaze on them and cherish them as if they were my beloved—so when the seaweed far offshore comes into flower, please tell me.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1248
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
The poet means to gaze on the flowers of the offshore seaweed as if they were his wife and cherish them, so he asks to be told when they bloom. His wish to find a keepsake of his wife in the flowers of the sea while traveling is expressed.
The left note says, "The four poems above come from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection." Within that collection it is written in the so-called abbreviated style, omitting particles and the like.
The first line, "As if she were my love," means "thinking of them as my wife."
The second line, "I would gaze and cherish them," pauses the poem; the same phrase appears in poems 1106 and 1150 in this book.
The third line refers to the seaweed growing offshore.
The fourth line, "when its flowers come to bloom," states the condition.
In the final line, "koso" is a particle of wishing: "please tell me."
- Source
- Manyoshu
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