南淵の細川山に立つ檀
弓束巻くまで人に知らえじ
弓束巻くまで人に知らえじ
- Roma-ji
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Minabuchi no hosokawayama ni tatsu mayumi yuzuka maku made hito ni shiraeji
- English Translation
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At Minabuchi
on the slope of Hosokawa
a spindle tree stands—
till its grip is wound as a bow,
none shall ever know of it
- Meaning
- The spindle tree standing on Mount Hosokawa in Minabuchi—until I have wound its grip and made it my bow, I will let no one know.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1330
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Bows"
The poet vows that no one shall know of the spindle tree standing on Mount Hosokawa in Minabuchi until its grip has been wound and it is made into a bow. The tree stands for the woman he loves and finishing the bow for making her his own; the poem shows the resolve to keep his love hidden until it is fulfilled.
It is the second poem on bows. Where the preceding poem fears gossip if he draws the bow, this one resolves that no one shall know until the bow is finished, and the two correspond. The last line, "none shall ever know," echoes "let no one know" at the end of poem 1299 and "unknown to others" in the fourth line of poem 1300, Hitomaro Collection poems on jewels in this book. Minabuchi and Mount Hosokawa are places in Asuka in Yamato. The poet is unknown.
The first line, "At Minabuchi," names a place in Asuka in Yamato.
The second line, "on the slope of Hosokawa," names Mount Hosokawa in Minabuchi.
The third line, "a spindle tree stands," stands for the woman he loves; it is the same tree as the "true-bow" in the second line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "till its grip is wound as a bow," means until leather or the like is wound on the grip and it is finished as a bow.
The final line, "none shall ever know of it," answers the fear of gossip in the last line of the preceding poem.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Michinoku no adatara mayumi tsura hakete hikaba ka hito no wa o koto nasamu
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Iwatatami kashikoki yama to shiritsutsu mo are wa kouru ka nami ni aranaku ni