いにしへゆ織りてし服をこの夕
衣に縫ひて君待つ我れを
衣に縫ひて君待つ我れを
- Roma-ji
-
Inishie yu oriteshi hata o kono yūbe koromo ni nuite kimi matsu ware o
- English Translation
-
From the days of old
the cloth that I have woven,
on this evening now
sewing it into a robe,
here I wait for you, my love.
- Meaning
- The cloth I have been weaving since long ago I have sewn into a robe this evening, and here I am, waiting for you.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2064
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem, in the Weaver's voice, says that this evening she has sewn the cloth she has woven since long ago into a robe and waits for the Herdsman. The image of making the fruit of long labor at the loom into a robe for the meeting shows both the weight of years of waiting and the joy of waiting. The loom neglected in 2019 is here completed as a robe, so poems on weaving correspond within the series.
The first line, "inishie yu," from long ago, is the same opening as 2019.
In the second line, "oriteshi hata o," "teshi" combines the completive "tsu" and past "ki": the cloth I have woven.
The third line, "this evening," refers to Tanabata evening.
The fourth line, "sewing it into a robe," describes the preparation.
In the last line, "kimi matsu ware o," "o" is a conjunctive particle with an exclamatory sense: I who am waiting for you.
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Amanogawa kiri tachinoboru tanabata no kumo no koromo no kaeru sode ka mo
- Next Poem
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Ashidama mo tadama mo yura ni oru hata o kimi ga mikeshi ni nui mo aemu ka mo