天の川楫の音聞こゆ彦星と
織女と今夜逢ふらしも
織女と今夜逢ふらしも
- Roma-ji
-
Amanogawa kaji no oto kikoyu hikoboshi to tanabatatsume to koyoi aurashi mo
- English Translation
-
The Heavenly River,
I can hear the sound of oars;
the Herdsman Star and
the Weaver Maiden, it seems,
on this night will meet at last.
- Meaning
- I hear the sound of oars on the Heavenly River. It seems the Herdsman Star and the Weaver Maiden are to meet tonight.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2029
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
From the sound of oars heard on the Heavenly River, this poem infers that the Herdsman and the Weaver will meet tonight. From the viewpoint of an earthly person who knows of the heavenly meeting by sound, it has a warmth that watches over the love of the two distant stars. The sound of oars the Weaver heard in 2015 is here heard by someone on earth, changing the one who hears the same sound.
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, "the Heavenly River," names the river dividing the stars.
The second line, "the sound of oars is heard," breaks the poem after the second line.
The third line, "the Herdsman Star and," names one star.
The fourth line, "the Weaver Maiden," names the other and is hypermetric, setting their names side by side.
In the last line, "koyoi aurashi mo," "rashi" marks grounded inference and "mo" is exclamatory, closing by inferring the meeting from the sound of oars.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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