西の市にただ独り出でて目並べず
買ひてし絹の商じこりかも
買ひてし絹の商じこりかも
- Roma-ji
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Nishi no ichi ni tada hitori idete me narabezu kaiteshi kinu no akijikori kamo
- English Translation
-
To the western market
going out all by myself,
not comparing wares,
the silk that I bought that day—
ah, it was a bad bargain!
- Meaning
- I went to the western market all alone and, without comparing, bought silk—and what a poor bargain it turned out to be.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1264
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Occasional Poems"
The speaker regrets having gone alone to the western market and bought silk without comparing it with other wares, only to find it a bad bargain. It is understood as an allegory of choosing a marriage partner without consulting anyone or comparing carefully, and then regretting it.
It is one of the occasional poems. The western market is thought to be the western marketplace of the Heijō capital, and the poem is unusual in drawing on city life for its material. It comes from the Old Poetry Collection. The poet is unknown.
The first line, "To the western market," names the marketplace in the west of the capital and has an extra syllable.
The second line, "going out all by myself," also has an extra syllable.
The third line, "not comparing wares," means without looking side by side.
The fourth line refers to the silk that was bought.
In the final line, "kamo" is exclamatory, expressing regret at the bad bargain.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Akatoki to yogarasu nakedo kono oka no konure no ue wa imada shizukeshi
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Kotoshi yuku niisakimori ga asagoromo kata no mayoi wa tare ka torimimu