君待つと我が恋ひをれば我が宿の
簾動かし秋の風吹く
簾動かし秋の風吹く
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi matsu to aga koioreba waga yado no sudare ugokashi aki no kaze fuku
- English Translation
-
As I wait for you,
longing for you all the while,
the blinds of my house
are stirring as they move:
the autumn wind is blowing
- Meaning
- As I wait for you, longing, the autumn wind comes blowing, stirring the blinds of my house.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Autumn Love Poems 1606
Headnote: "A poem composed by Princess Nukata thinking of the Ōmi Emperor"
As she waits longingly for Emperor Tenji to come, the autumn wind blows, stirring the blinds of her house. The moment the blinds sway, she thinks her beloved has come, but it is only the autumn wind; the trembling heart and loneliness of one who waits are delicately expressed. Placed at the head of the autumn love poems, it is celebrated as one of the finest love poems of the Man'yōshū. The same poem also appears in Book Four as 488.
The author, Princess Nukata, was the foremost woman poet of the early Man'yōshū. She bore Princess Tōchi to Emperor Tenmu and is said to have later served Emperor Tenji.
The first line means "as I wait for you," "you" being Emperor Tenji at the Ōtsu Palace in Ōmi.
The second line means "as I long for you."
The third line means "of my house."
The fourth line, "stirring the blinds," makes her think someone has come.
The final line states that the autumn wind blows, revealing that what came was not her lover but the wind, and leaving loneliness behind. Fujiwara no Umakai's 1535 in this book ends with the same line, singing of a waiting woman's heart, so poems with the same final line answer each other in the autumn miscellaneous and autumn love poems.
- Author
- Princess Nukata
- Source
- Manyoshu
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