あさもよし紀へ行く君が真土山
越ゆらむ今日ぞ雨な降りそね
越ゆらむ今日ぞ雨な降りそね
- Roma-ji
-
Asamo yoshi ki e yuku kimi ga matsuchiyama koyuramu kyō zo ame na furi so ne
- English Translation
-
Hemp robes are fine in Kii—
you who travel on toward Kii,
over Mount Matsuchi
today you must be crossing:
O rain, I pray you, do not fall.
- Meaning
- Today, the day you must be crossing Mount Matsuchi on your way to Kii, rain, I beg you, do not fall.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1680
Headnote: "Two poems by those who stayed behind"
On the day when the traveler bound for Kii must be crossing Mount Matsuchi, the speaker begs the rain not to fall. The poem carries the tender concern of one left behind, praying for a safe journey.
The headnote calls these "poems by those who stayed behind," and they are read as poems by people in the capital waiting for those who joined the progress to Kii. Where the thirteen preceding poems were written on the road, these two from the home side create a pairing of traveler and the one who waits.
The first line, asamo yoshi, is a pillow word for Kii, said to come from the fine hemp skirts that were a product of that land.
The second line, "you who travel on toward Kii," names the one who has set out.
The third line, "over Mount Matsuchi," names the mountain on the border of Yamato and Kii, between present-day Gojō in Nara and Hashimoto in Wakayama.
The fourth line, "today you must be crossing," uses the present conjecture ramu, with zo emphasizing "today." It answers the last line of the next poem, 1681, "is it today you cross," with the words reversed.
The final line, "O rain, I pray you, do not fall," uses the prohibitive na ... so with the particle ne. It is the same form of plea as "O tide, do not rise" in poem 1669.
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Ki no kuni ni yamazu kayowamu tsuma no mori tsuma yoshikose ne tsuma to iinagara
- Next Poem
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Okure ite aga koi oreba shirakumo no tanabiku yama o kyō ka koyuramu