渡り守舟出し出でむ今夜のみ
相見て後は逢はじものかも
相見て後は逢はじものかも
- Roma-ji
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Watarimori funade shi idemu koyoi nomi aimite nochi wa awaji mono ka mo
- English Translation
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O ferryman, now
I'll set out, my boat set forth;
meeting just tonight,
then, after, never again—
surely it will not be so!
- Meaning
- Ferryman, I will set out now. It is not as though, having met only tonight, we shall never meet again.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2087
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem, in the Herdsman's voice, tells the ferryman he will set out, reassuring himself that it is not as if they met only tonight and would never meet again. It shows a heart trying to console the pain of parting with the thought of meeting again next year. Like "funade semu tsuma" in 2022, it sings of setting out after the meeting, continuing the poems about the ferryman.
The first line, "watarimori," is the same opening as 2072 and others.
In the second line, "funade shi idemu," "mu" expresses intention: I will set out. The poem breaks here.
The third line, "only tonight," names the meeting.
The fourth line, "after we have met," looks beyond it.
In the last line, "awaji mono ka mo," "ji" is negative conjecture and "mono ka mo" a rhetorical exclamation: surely it is not that we shall not meet.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Hikoboshi no tsuma yobu fune no hikizuna no taemu to kimi o waga omowanaku ni
- Next Poem
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Waga kakuseru kajisao nakute watarimori fune kasame ya mo shimashi wa arimate