いとのきて薄き眉根をいたづらに
掻かしめつつも逢はぬ人かも
掻かしめつつも逢はぬ人かも
- Roma-ji
-
Ito nokite usuki mayone o itazura ni kakashimetsutsu mo awanu hito kamo
- English Translation
-
My eyebrows, so thin,
so especially thin,
you make me scratch
for nothing, all in vain,
and still you do not come
- Meaning
- You keep making me scratch my thin eyebrows in vain, and still you never come to see me.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2903
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
Drawing on the folk belief that itchy eyebrows foretold a meeting with one's lover, the poet reproaches someone who keeps causing that itch yet never comes. Within the light, witty use of the superstition lies the impatience of one who waits.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.
Line one, "ito nokite," means "especially, particularly."
Line two, "usuki mayone o," means "my thin eyebrows," "mayone" meaning eyebrows.
Line three, "itazura ni," means "in vain."
Line four, "kakashimetsutsu mo," means "while making me scratch," blaming the itch on the beloved.
Line five, "awanu hito kamo," means "a person who will not meet me," carrying gentle reproach.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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