月夜よみ門に出で立ち足占して
行く時さへや妹に逢はずあらむ
行く時さへや妹に逢はずあらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tsukuyo yomi kado ni idetachi ashiura shite yuku toki sae ya imo ni awazu aramu
- English Translation
-
The moon is so fine,
I stood outside my gate
and read my steps,
yet even as I set out,
will I fail to meet my love
- Meaning
- The moonlight was so lovely that I went out to my gate and divined by my footsteps; yet even now that I set out, will I fail to meet my beloved?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3006
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
On a beautiful moonlit night the poet goes out to the gate, divines by footsteps, and sets out for the beloved, yet fears they still may not meet. It depicts love's anxiety, which persists even when one relies on divination.
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, "tsukuyo yomi," means "since the moonlit night is fine."
Line two, "kado ni idetachi," means "going out to stand at the gate."
Line three, "ashiura shite," means "divining by footsteps," telling fortune by the way one steps or counts paces.
Line four, "yuku toki sae ya," means "even when I set out," with "ya" a question concluded by the attributive "mu" in line five.
Line five, "imo ni awazu aramu," means "will I not meet her?", a hypermetric line of eight syllables.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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