思はぬを思ふと言はば真鳥住む
雲梯の杜の神し知らさむ
雲梯の杜の神し知らさむ
- Roma-ji
-
Omowanu o omou to iwaba matori sumu Unate no mori no kami shi shirasamu
- English Translation
-
If one said "I love"
without any love at all,
the god of the grove
at Unate where eagles dwell
would surely know the truth
- Meaning
- If anyone were to say "I love you" without loving, the god of the grove at Unate, where eagles dwell, would surely see the truth.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3100
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
The poet says that if one claimed to love without loving, the god of the grove at Unate would see through it. Calling the god as witness, it can be read either as reproaching the beloved's falseness or as vowing the poet's own sincerity. With this poem, the section "Expressing Thoughts through Things" comes to an end.
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, "omowanu o," means "though not loving."
Line two, "omou to iwaba," means "if one said one loves."
Line three, "matori sumu," means "where eagles dwell," modifying the grove at Unate.
Line four, "Unate no mori no," means "of the sacred grove at Unate" in present-day Kashihara, Nara Prefecture.
Line five, "kami shi shirasamu," means "the god would surely know," with "shi" emphatic.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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