己夫にともしき子らは泊てむ津の
荒礒巻きて寝む君待ちかてに
荒礒巻きて寝む君待ちかてに
- Roma-ji
-
Onozuma ni tomoshiki kora wa hatemu tsu no ariso makite nemu kimi machikate ni
- English Translation
-
She who seldom meets
her own husband, that dear girl,
at the harbor's edge
on the rugged rocks will sleep,
waiting, weary, for her lord.
- Meaning
- The girl who so rarely meets her husband will sleep with the rough rocks of the harbor where his boat should land as her pillow, unable to bear waiting for him.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2004
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem imagines the Weaver, who rarely meets her husband, sleeping with the rough rocks of the harbor where his boat should land as her pillow, waiting. Like the stone pillow of the preceding poem, the image of pillowing on rough rocks shows the loneliness and longing of waiting apart. Whereas the preceding poem imagined the Weaver from the Herdsman's side, this one imagines her from a third person's view.
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, "to her own husband," names the relationship.
In the second line, "tomoshiki kora wa," "tomoshi" means scarce: the girl who seldom meets him.
The third line, "of the harbor where the boat will land," names the place.
In the fourth line, "ariso makite nemu," "ariso" is a rocky shore and "maku" means to pillow on; the line is hypermetric.
In the last line, "kimi machikate ni," "kate ni" means unable to: unable to bear waiting. By inversion it gives the reason for her lonely sleep.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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