しかとあらぬ五百代小田を刈り乱り
田廬に居れば都し思ほゆ
田廬に居れば都し思ほゆ
- Roma-ji
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Shika to aranu ioshiro oda o karimidari tabuse ni oreba miyako shi omooyu
- English Translation
-
Of no great account,
this small field of five hundred shiro
I reaped in disarray,
and staying in the field hut,
the capital comes to mind
- Meaning
- Staying in the field hut after reaping, all in disarray, this rice field of no great size, I find myself longing for the capital.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1592
Headnote: "Two poems composed by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue at the Takeda estate"
Having reaped, all in disarray, a rice field of no great size, and staying in the hut beside the field, the poet finds herself longing for the capital. Staying at Takeda, an estate of the Ōtomo clan, and overseeing the harvest, she thinks fondly of life in the capital. The note says, "The above were composed in the ninth month of autumn, Tenpyō 11 (739)."
The author, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She was the aunt of Ōtomo no Yakamochi and later also his mother-in-law, and she left many poems in the Man'yōshū.
The first line means "of no great account," speaking modestly of how small the field is.
The second line, with an extra syllable, means "a small field of about five hundred shiro"; "shiro" is a unit of field area.
The third line means "reaping it in disarray."
The fourth line means "staying in the hut by the field." Imibe no Kuromaro's 1556 in this book also sings of the "makeshift hut" for reaping the autumn fields.
The final line, with the emphatic "shi" and spontaneous "yu," expresses a longing for the capital that comes unbidden.
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
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