Tada ni awazu aru wa ube nari ime ni dani nanishika hito no koto no shigekemu

直に逢はずあるはうべなり夢にだに
何しか人の言の繁けむ

Roma-ji: Tada ni awazu aru wa ube nari ime ni dani nanishika hito no koto no shigekemu
English Translation: That we do not meet
face to face is only right,
but even in dreams,
why should all the people's talk
grow so thick between us
Meaning: It is only natural that we do not meet in person; but why should people's gossip crowd in so thickly even in my dreams?
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2848

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet accepts that it is unavoidable not to meet in reality for fear of others' eyes, yet laments that even in dreams they cannot meet, as if gossip were to blame. The exaggeration that rumor reaches even into dreams conveys the stifling atmosphere of a love that fears the world's gaze.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet who served under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note shows that this poem was taken from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, though scholars differ on whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a song he recorded.
A variant text gives the first three lines as "utsutsu ni wa ube mo awanaku ime ni sae," making the contrast between reality and dreams even clearer.

Line one, "tada ni awazu," is a hypermetric line of six syllables meaning "not meeting directly."
Line two, "aru wa ube nari": "ube" means reasonable or natural, conceding that it cannot be helped if they avoid meeting for fear of others. The poem pauses here.
Line three, "ime ni dani": "dani" is an adverbial particle meaning "at least," carrying the hope that, even if a real meeting is given up, they might meet in dreams.
Line four, "nanishika hito no": "nanishika" asks "why," and it corresponds to the conjectural "mu" in line five.
Line five, "koto no shigekemu," means "why should the talk be so thick," and the exaggeration that gossip intrudes even on dream meetings is the heart of the poem.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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