春さればしだり柳のとををにも
妹は心に乗りにけるかも
妹は心に乗りにけるかも
- Roma-ji
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Haru sareba shidariyanagi no tōo ni mo imo wa kokoro ni norinikeru ka mo
- English Translation
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When the spring comes round,
like the drooping willow boughs
bending low with weight,
so my dear one in my heart
has come to rest, pressing down.
- Meaning
- As the weeping willow bends low in spring, so my beloved has come to weigh upon my heart and will not leave it.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Spring Love Poems 1896
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Spring Love Poems"
This poem overlays the weeping willow bending low in spring with the feeling that a beloved weighs upon the heart and will not leave it, and it closes the Hitomaro Collection's spring love group. "Imo wa kokoro ni noru," my beloved rides upon my heart, is a Man'yōshū expression for a person who cannot be put out of mind, and the bending willow shows that weight visually.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet of the Asuka period, active under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note records that this poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, and it is uncertain whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a poem by someone else that he recorded.
The first line, "when spring comes," is the same opening as the preceding poem.
The second line, "of the weeping willow," uses a word also seen in 1852.
In the third line, "tōo ni mo," "tōo" describes branches bending and swaying. The upper lines serve as a preface leading into the image of something weighing on the heart.
The fourth line, "my beloved, upon my heart," names the one who is dear.
In the last line, "norinikeru ka mo," "noru" means to press upon the heart and not leave it, and "keri" and "ka mo" are exclamatory, closing with the weight of the beloved's presence.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Haru sareba mazu sakikusa no sakiku araba nochi ni mo awamu na koi so wagimo
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Haru sareba mozu no kusaguki miezu tomo ware wa miyaramu kimi ga atari o ba