栲領巾の鷺坂山の白つつじ
我れににほはに妹に示さむ
我れににほはに妹に示さむ
- Roma-ji
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Takuhire no sagisakayama no shiratsutsuji ware ni niowa ni imo ni shimesamu
- English Translation
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White as a mulberry scarf,
on Sagisaka's mountain slope,
O white azaleas,
tint me with your gleaming hue—
I shall show it to my darling.
- Meaning
- White azaleas of Mount Sagisaka, let your color rub off on me, so that I can show it to my wife.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1694
Headnote: "A poem composed at Sagisaka"
The traveler calls on the white azaleas of Mount Sagisaka to dye his robe with their color so that he can show it to his wife at home. It expresses a wish to share the beauty of a flower seen on the road with her.
Sagisaka is a slope near Kuse in Jōyō, Kyoto, and poems 1687 and 1707 of this book also concern Sagisaka.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active in the reigns of Jitō and Monmu. This poem is taken from the Hitomaro Collection, which is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he gathered.
The text gives the fourth line as ware ni niowa ni, which does not match the kana line's ware ni niowa ne. The text's wording is followed here, but it is understood, as in the kana line, as "tint me with your color."
The first line, takuhire no, "white mulberry scarf," is a pillow word for the white heron, sagi.
The second line, "on Sagisaka's mountain slope," is the same as in poem 1687 and names where the flowers bloom.
The third line, "O white azaleas," layers white upon the white scarf and the heron, creating a pure world all in white.
The fourth line, "tint me with your gleaming hue," pauses the poem. Niou means to glow with color and for color to transfer.
The final line, "I shall show it to my darling," ends with the volitional mu.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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