二上に隠らふ月の惜しけども
妹が手本を離るるこのころ
妹が手本を離るるこのころ
- Roma-ji
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Futakami ni kakurau tsuki no oshikedomo imo ga tamoto o karuru kono koro
- English Translation
-
Like the moon that slips
behind Mount Futakami,
though I grieve the loss,
from the arms of my beloved
I am parted in these days
- Meaning
- As one grieves the moon sinking behind Mount Futakami, so I grieve, and yet in these days I am kept apart from my beloved's arms.
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2668
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As one grieves the moon sinking behind Mount Futakami, the speaker grieves, yet must spend these days away from the arms of his beloved. Regret for the setting moon is laid over the loneliness of nights without her.
This is one of the poems on the moon. After the sinking moon of the preceding poem, this one tells of a moon hiding behind a mountain. Mount Futakami stands on the border of Yamato and Kawachi, to the west as seen from Yamato, in the direction where the moon sets.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.
First line, "Futakami ni": "on Mount Futakami." The mountain has two peaks, a male and a female summit, and lies to the west of Yamato.
Second line, "kakurau tsuki no": "like the moon slowly hiding." "Kakurau" adds the continuative "fu" to "kakuru," depicting a gradual setting. The first two lines form a preface leading to "regret."
Third line, "oshikedomo": "though it is regrettable." It joins the old realis form "oshike" of the adjective "oshi" to the concessive "domo."
Fourth line, "imo ga tamoto o": the wrists or arms of the beloved, that is, the arm that served as a pillow. The word recalls nights shared and sharpens the loneliness of separation.
Fifth line, "karuru kono koro": "in these days when I am parted." Ending on the noun "kono koro," it leaves a lingering sense of grief that goes on day after day.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Masode mochi toko uchiharai kimi matsu to orishi aida ni tsuki katabukinu
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Wa ga seko ga furisake mitsutsu nagekuramu kiyoki tsukuyo ni kumo na tanabiki