機物のまね木持ち行きて天の川
打橋渡す君が来むため
打橋渡す君が来むため
- Roma-ji
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Hatamono no maneki mochiyukite amanogawa uchihashi watasu kimi ga komu tame
- English Translation
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From my weaving loom
taking the maneki beam,
the Heavenly River
I will span with a plank bridge,
so that you may come to me.
- Meaning
- Taking the crossbeams of my loom, I will lay a plank bridge across the Heavenly River, so that you may come.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2062
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem, in the Weaver's voice, vows to take parts of her loom and lay a bridge over the Heavenly River so that the Herdsman may come. As if answering 2056, where the Herdsman wished for a plank bridge, the Weaver herself tries to build a bridge with her loom's parts, so the two poems answer each other. It is an idea befitting the Weaver, whose calling is weaving.
The first line, "of the loom," names the weaving tool.
In the second line, "maneki mochiyukite," "maneki" is thought to be a part of the loom; the line is hypermetric.
The third line, "the Heavenly River," names the river to be bridged.
The fourth line, "lay a plank bridge," uses the same word as the second line of 2056.
The last line, "so that you may come," gives by inversion the bridge's purpose at the end.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Amanogawa shiranami takashi aga kouru kimi ga funade wa ima shi surashi mo
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Amanogawa kiri tachinoboru tanabata no kumo no koromo no kaeru sode ka mo