浦波の来寄する浜につれもなく
こやせる君が家道知らずも
こやせる君が家道知らずも
- Roma-ji
-
Uranami no kiyosuru hama ni tsure mo naku koyaseru kimi ga ieji shirazu mo
- English Translation
-
On the beach where waves
of the bay come rolling in,
with no tie to you,
here you lie, my lord—and the road
to your home, I do not know
- Meaning
- On the shore where the waves of the bay roll in, you lie with no tie to this place—and I do not even know the road to your home.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Elegies 3343
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy"
This poem follows the preceding one and closes the nine poems noted above. Of the dead man lying on a shore where the waves roll in, with no tie to the place, the poet laments that he does not even know the road to his home. Taking up the chōka’s (3339) “I asked his home, but he did not tell the road there,” it closes the sequence on the regret of having no way to inform the family. It shares with 3341 the words “tsure mo naki” and “tsure mo naku.” Note that the fourth line of the text reads “koyaseru kimi ga,” which does not match the kana reading line “fushitaru kimi ga”; here the text is followed.
The poet Tsuki no Omi no Obito bore the clan name Tsuki no Omi and the hereditary title Obito; his personal name has not come down to us. All that is known of him is that he composed poems on seeing the body of a traveler fallen on the shore of Kashima in Bingo Province, thought to be near present-day Fukuyama, Hiroshima.
The first line, “uranami no,” means the waves of the inlet, taking up the chōka’s “the shore where the waves roll in.”
The second line, “kiyosuru hama ni,” means “on the beach where they come rolling,” showing where the dead man lies.
The third line, “tsure mo naku,” means “without any tie,” using in adverbial form the same word as “tsure mo naki” in 3341.
The fourth line, “koyaseru kimi ga,” means “of you who lie fallen,” repeating the words of 3342, “you who lie fallen at the edge of the bay.”
The closing line, “ieji shirazu mo,” means “I know not the road to your home,” the sighing “mo” expressing regret at being unable to inform his family.
- Author
- Tsuki no Omi no Obito
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Urabuchi ni koyaseru kimi o kyō kyō to komu to matsuramu tsuma shi kanashi mo
- Next Poem
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Ashibe yuku kari no tsubasa o miru goto ni kimi ga obashishi nageya shi omōyu