高円の野辺のかほ花面影に
見えつつ妹は忘れかねつも
見えつつ妹は忘れかねつも
- Roma-ji
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Takamato no nobe no kaobana omokage ni mietsutsu imo wa wasurekanetsu mo
- English Translation
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On Takamato,
the kaobana of the fields,
like a face that stays
rising always in my sight,
my dear, I cannot forget
- Meaning
- Like the kaobana blooming in the fields of Takamato, your face keeps rising before my eyes, and I cannot forget you.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Autumn Love Poems 1630
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem [with tanka] sent by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi to the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue," envoy
Like the kaobana blooming in the fields of Takamato, his beloved's face keeps rising before his eyes, and he cannot forget her. It is the envoy to the long poem 1629; following the long poem, which says that though he roams the hills and fields of Takamato, each flower he sees only deepens his longing, it lays her image over the kaobana, one of those flowers.
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 recipient, the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue, was the daughter of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue and Yakamochi's cousin, and later became his wife.
The first line names the area of Mount Takamato in eastern Nara.
In the second line, "kaobana" is variously said to mean a lovely flower, bindweed, or iris; its meaning is unsettled. The "kao," face, in the flower's name leads into "image" in the third line.
The third line means "as an image before my eyes."
The fourth line means "appearing again and again, you."
The final line, with the perfective "tsu" and exclamatory "mo," laments that he cannot forget her.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Waga yado no hagi no shitaba wa akikaze mo imada fukaneba kaku zo momiteru
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Ima tsukuru kuni no miyako ni aki no yo no nagaki ni hitori nuru ga kurushisa