我がやどに生ふるつちはり心ゆも
思はぬ人の衣に摺らゆな
思はぬ人の衣に摺らゆな
- Roma-ji
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Waga yado ni ouru tsuchihari kokoro yu mo omowanu hito no kinu ni surayu na
- English Translation
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In my garden grounds
the tsuchihari that grows,
from the heart's own depths
by one who does not love you
let yourself never be rubbed
- Meaning
- Tsuchihari growing in my garden—never let yourself be rubbed into the robe of one who does not love you from the heart.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1338
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Grasses"
The speaker calls to the tsuchihari growing in the garden not to let itself be rubbed into the robe of someone who does not love it from the heart. The plant stands for the daughter of the house and being rubbed into a robe for being joined with a man, and the poem is read as a parent warning a daughter not to yield to an insincere man.
It is one of the poems on grasses. The third line, "from the heart's own depths," and "does not love" in the fourth line also appear in poem 1354 in this book, the first poem on trees, where the speaker is the one who rubs the dye into the robe: "I who never thought of it have rubbed it into my robe." The poet is unknown.
The first line, "In my garden grounds," refers to the grounds of the speaker's house.
The second line names the tsuchihari; which plant is meant is uncertain, and some take it as a kind of bush clover.
The third line, "from the heart's own depths," is the same line as in poem 1354 in this book.
The fourth line, "by one who does not love you," refers to someone without true feeling.
In the final line, "yu" is passive and "na" a prohibition: "do not be rubbed." Dyeing cloth with a plant stands for the union of man and woman.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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