岩畳畏き山と知りつつも
我れは恋ふるか並にあらなくに
我れは恋ふるか並にあらなくに
- Roma-ji
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Iwatatami kashikoki yama to shiritsutsu mo are wa kouru ka nami ni aranaku ni
- English Translation
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Where the rocks are piled,
I know it for an awesome peak,
knowing it full well—
yet still I love it so,
though it is no common hill
- Meaning
- I know well it is an awesome mountain, rocks piled on rocks—and still I love it so, though it is no ordinary mountain.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1331
Headnote: "On Mountains"
The poet knows the mountain of piled rocks is awesome, yet cannot help loving it. The mountain stands for a person of high rank who is hard to approach, and the poem shows a heart that cannot hold back its longing though it knows the beloved is no ordinary match.
It is the first poem under the heading "On Mountains," which covers the five poems up to 1335. The third line, "awesome," corresponds to "awesome though it is" in the third line of poem 1334, the two sharing the conceit of love for one to be held in awe. The poet is unknown.
The first line, "Where the rocks are piled," shows the steepness of the mountain.
The second line, "I know it for an awesome peak," uses the mountain as a figure for a person of high rank.
The third line, "knowing it full well," means "even though I know."
In the fourth line, "yet still I love it so," "ka" is exclamatory, and the poem pauses here.
The final line, "though it is no common hill," gives by inversion the reason for his hesitation.
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Minabuchi no hosokawayama ni tatsu mayumi yuzuka maku made hito ni shiraeji
- Next Poem
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Iwa ga ne no kogoshiki yama ni irisomete yama natsukashimi idekatenu kamo