神なびの神寄せ板にする杉の
思ひも過ぎず恋の繁きに
思ひも過ぎず恋の繁きに
- Roma-ji
-
Kamunabi no kamiyoseita ni suru sugi no omoi mo sugizu koi no shigeki ni
- English Translation
-
Of the sacred grove,
as the cedar that is shaped
to boards that summon gods,
so my longing does not pass,
so thick my love has grown.
- Meaning
- Like the cedar made into boards to call down the gods of the sacred grove, my longing does not pass away, so dense is my love.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems 1773
Headnote: "A poem presented to Prince Yuge"
So intense is the speaker's love that his longing never passes away. Using the sacred cedar that summons the gods as a preface, the poem gives weight to the depth of his feeling.
According to the headnote, this poem was presented to Prince Yuge. The upper verse is a preface that leads through the shared sound of sugi, "cedar," and sugi, "to pass," to "does not pass." Prince Yuge was a son of Emperor Tenmu and died in the third year of Monmu (699).
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 first line, "of the sacred grove," names a forest or mountain where gods descend.
The second line, "as the cedar that is shaped," refers to boards used to summon the gods in rites.
The third line, "to boards that summon gods," completes the preface leading to sugi, "to pass," through the word for cedar.
The fourth line, "so my longing does not pass," uses sugu for feelings fading away.
The final line, "so thick my love has grown," places the reason last through inversion.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Okureite are wa ya koimu inamino no akihagi mitsutsu inamu ko yue ni
- Next Poem
-
Tarachine no haha no mikoto no koto ni araba toshi no o nagaku tanome sugimu ya