白玉の五百つ集ひを解きもみず
我は干しかてぬ逢はむ日待つに
我は干しかてぬ逢はむ日待つに
- Roma-ji
-
Shiratama no iotsu tsudoi o toki mo mizu wa wa hoshikatenu awamu hi matsu ni
- English Translation
-
Of the pearls so white
hundreds gathered on a string,
never loosening them,
I cannot dry my sleeves at all,
waiting for the day we meet.
- Meaning
- Without even loosening my strand of countless white pearls, I cannot dry my tear-wet sleeves, waiting for the day we will meet.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2012
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem, in the Weaver's voice, tells of not even loosening her necklace of countless white pearls and being unable to dry her tear-wet sleeves as she waits for the day of meeting. The image of waiting in fine adornment and the sleeves that never dry show the ache of one who waits. It resembles the poems of sleeves that do not dry in 1994 and 1995 of the summer love poems.
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, "of white pearls," names the jewels.
The second line, "iotsu tsudoi o," a great gathering, refers to a necklace strung with many pearls.
The third line, "without even untying," shows her remaining adorned for the day of meeting.
In the fourth line, "wa wa hoshikatenu," "katenu" means unable: I cannot dry them, hinting at sleeves wet with tears.
The last line, "waiting for the day we meet," gives the reason at the end by inversion.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Amanogawa imukai tachite koishira ni koto dani tsugemu tsuma to iu made wa
- Next Poem
-
Amanogawa mizukagegusa no akikaze ni nabikau mireba toki wa kinikeri