夜並べて君を来ませとちはやぶる
神の社を祷まぬ日はなし
神の社を祷まぬ日はなし
- Roma-ji
-
Yo narabete kimi o kimase to chihayaburu kami no yashiro o nomanu hi wa nashi
- English Translation
-
Night after night
that you might come to me,
there is not a day
I fail to pray at the shrine
of the mighty gods above
- Meaning
- There is not a day I fail to pray at the shrine of the mighty gods that you may come to me night after night.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2660
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The speaker prays at the shrine every day that her lover will come to her night after night. Through prayer to the gods, this poem conveys the single-minded longing of a woman waiting for her lover's visit.
This poem shares its second half, "kami no yashiro o nomanu hi wa nashi," and its third line, "chihayaburu," with poem 2662 in this book. While this poem is a woman's prayer for her lover to come, poem 2662 is a man's prayer to meet his beloved again, so the two form a pair voicing the same words of prayer from the woman's side and the man's.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.
First line, "yo narabete": "night after night," expressing the wish for a visit every night.
Second line, "kimi o kimase to": "that you may come." "Kimase" is the imperative of "ku" with the honorific "masu," giving the content of the prayer.
Third line, "chihayaburu": a pillow word attached to "gods." It stands in the same third line in poem 2662 of this book.
Fourth line, "kami no yashiro o": "at the shrine of the gods," naming the place of prayer.
Fifth line, "nomanu hi wa nashi": "there is no day I do not pray." "Nomu" means to pray to the gods, and the double negative stresses prayer offered without fail every day.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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