我が蒔ける早稲田の穂立作りたる
かづらぞ見つつ偲はせ我が背
かづらぞ見つつ偲はせ我が背
- Roma-ji
-
Waga makeru wasada no hotachi tsukuritaru kazura zo mitsutsu shinowase waga se
- English Translation
-
The rice that I sowed,
from the early paddy's ears
I have made for you
this garland: gaze upon it
and remember me, my love
- Meaning
- This is a garland I made from the ears of the early rice I sowed myself; look at it and think of me, my love.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Autumn Love Poems 1624
Headnote: "A poem sent by the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi with a garland of autumn rice"
She made a garland from the ears of early rice she herself had sown and sent it to Yakamochi, asking him to think of her as he looks at it. By sending rice ears she tended with her own hands, she gives form to her feelings for someone far away. The note says, "The above three poems were exchanged in the ninth month of autumn, Tenpyō 11 (739)."
The author, the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue, was the daughter of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue and a cousin of Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and later became his wife.
The first line, "that I sowed," stresses that she tended it herself.
The second line names the rice ears standing in a field of early-ripening rice. "Early rice fields" also appear in 1566 of this book.
The third line means "that I made," showing that she made a garland from the rice ears.
The fourth line, with "zo," stresses "gazing at this garland."
The final line, the imperative of the honorific "su," asks him to remember her, closing with the address "my love."
- Author
- The Elder Daughter of Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Waga yado ni momitsu kaerude miru goto ni imo o kaketsutsu koinu hi wa nashi
- Next Poem
-
Wagimoko ga nari to tsukureru aki no ta no wasaho no kazura miredo akanu kamo