泊瀬川早み早瀬をむすび上げて
飽かずや妹と問ひし君はも
飽かずや妹と問ひし君はも
- Roma-ji
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Hatsusegawa hayami hayase o musubiagete akazu ya imo to toishi kimi wa mo
- English Translation
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From Hatsuse River,
from the swiftly rushing shoals,
scooping water up,
"Not yet sated, darling?" asked
you who asked me so, ah you
- Meaning
- Scooping up water from the swift shoals of the Hatsuse River, you asked me, "Have you not had your fill yet, my love?" Ah, you who asked me that.
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2706
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
A woman fondly recalls the man who, scooping water from the swift shoals of the Hatsuse River, asked her, "Have you not had your fill?" She looks back on a past moment of intimacy, and her longing for the man no longer by her side is held in the sigh of "kimi wa mo."
Through the swift shoals of the Hatsuse River, the poem recalls a lover of days gone by. "Akazu ya" can be read as overlaying two meanings: not yet tired of drinking the scooped water, and not yet tired of their meeting. Ending with "wa mo" is shared with the next poem's "komorizuma wa mo," and both close with a sigh for a lover who is no longer near.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not been handed down.
First line, "hatsusegawa": the river flowing through Hatsuse in Yamato Province (present-day Hase in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture), a place often sung in the Man'yoshu.
Second line, "hayami hayase o": "the swiftly rushing shoals." Repeating the sound "haya" (swift) intensifies the force of the current.
Third line, "musubiagete": "scooping up water in cupped hands." "Musubu" means to join the hands and scoop up water. This line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, "akazu ya imo to": "'not sated yet, my love?'" The particle "ya" marks a question, and the man's affectionate words are quoted as they were.
Fifth line, "toishi kimi wa mo": "you who asked, ah." The attributive "shi" of the past auxiliary "ki" marks recollection, and "wa mo" is an exclamatory particle used in thinking of someone no longer present.
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Hashikiyashi awanu kimi yue itazura ni kono kawa no se ni tamamo nurashitsu
- Next Poem
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Aoyama no iwakakinuma no migomori ni koi ya wataramu au yoshi o nami