太刀の後玉纒田居にいつまでか
妹を相見ず家恋ひ居らむ
妹を相見ず家恋ひ居らむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tachi no shiri tamamaki tai ni itsu made ka imo o aimizu iegoi oramu
- English Translation
-
Sword-hilt wound with beads—
at Tamamaki fields,
until when, how long
not meeting my dear wife,
must I sit and long for home?
- Meaning
- Among the fields of Tamamaki, how long must I stay without seeing my wife, longing for home?
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Autumn Love Poems 2245
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love Expressed Through the Paddy Fields"
This poem, staying by the fields of Tamamaki for farm work, laments how long the speaker must go without seeing his wife, longing for home. It shows both the long absence required by farm work and thoughts of the wife left at home. Like the temporary-lodging poems 2221 and 2235 in the autumn miscellaneous poems, it sings of the loneliness of separation caused by farm work.
The first line, "tachi no shiri," the hilt of a sword, is a pillow word for "Tamamaki," from winding beads around the hilt.
In the second line, "tamamaki tai ni," Tamamaki is thought to be a place name and "tai" means fields.
In the third line, "itsu made ka," "ka" is an interrogative particle in kakari-musubi with "mu" in the last line.
The fourth line, "not meeting my wife," names the absence.
The last line, "iegoi oramu," shall I go on longing for home?, answers "ka."
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Suminoe no kishi o ta ni hari makishi ine kakute karu made awanu kimi ka mo
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Aki no ta no ho no ue ni okeru shiratsuyu no kenubeku mo wa wa omōyuru ka mo