天地と別れし時ゆ己が妻
しかぞ年にある秋待つ我れは
しかぞ年にある秋待つ我れは
- Roma-ji
-
Ametsuchi to wakareshi toki yu ono ga tsuma shika zo toshi ni aru aki matsu ware wa
- English Translation
-
Since heaven and earth
were divided from the first,
she has been my wife;
so it is, that once a year
I, for autumn, wait for her.
- Meaning
- Since heaven and earth were parted, she has been my wife—and so I wait for the autumn that comes but once a year.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2005
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
In this poem the Herdsman says that the Weaver has been his wife since heaven and earth were separated, and that is why he waits for the autumn that comes once a year. The vast scale of time since the beginning of heaven and earth is set against the limited time of a yearly meeting, showing the weight of an eternal love. Like 2002, which sang of love since the age of gods, it traces the stars' love back to the beginning of the world.
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, "heaven and earth," names the two.
In the second line, "wakareshi toki yu," "yu" marks the starting point: since they were parted.
The third line, "my own wife," breaks the poem after the third line.
In the fourth line, "shika zo toshi ni aru," "shika" means so and "zo" is emphatic: that comes once a year.
The last line, "I who wait for autumn," names by inversion the one who waits.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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