隠りのみ居ればいぶせみ慰むと
出で立ち聞けば来鳴くひぐらし
出で立ち聞けば来鳴くひぐらし
- Roma-ji
-
Komori nomi oreba ibusemi nagusamu to idetachi kikeba kinaku higurashi
- English Translation
-
Only staying in,
I grew so heavy-hearted,
so to cheer my mind
I went out and stood to listen:
the evening cicadas came singing
- Meaning
- Staying shut indoors had left me gloomy, so I went out to cheer my heart, and as I listened, the evening cicadas came singing.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1479
Headnote: "A poem on the evening cicada by Ōtomo no Yakamochi"
Weighed down by staying indoors, the poet goes out for relief and, as he listens, hears evening cicadas singing. The scene of a man carrying a clouded heart who meets the cicadas' voices at dusk is quietly captured.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official of the Nara period. He rose to the post of Middle Counselor, is thought to have been closely involved in compiling the Man'yōshū, and left more poems than anyone else in the anthology.
The first line means "only staying shut in."
The second line, "ibusemi," formed from "ibuseshi" with "mi," means "because I felt gloomy." In 1570 of this book, Fujiwara no Yatsuka sings of longing when rain keeps him from going out, so a heart that stays in and a heart that goes out stand in contrast.
The third line means "to cheer my heart."
The fourth line means "when I went out and listened."
The final line ends on a noun, placing the cicadas' voices last and leaving both the loneliness and the comfort of dusk as a lingering resonance.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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