筑波嶺の嶺ろに霞居過ぎかてに
息づく君を率寝て遣らさね
息づく君を率寝て遣らさね
- Roma-ji
-
Tsukubane no nero ni kasumi i sugikate ni ikizuku kimi o inete yarasane
- English Translation
-
On Mount Tsukuba,
the haze lingers on the peaks:
unable to go,
that man sighs outside your gate—
lie with him, then send him home.
- Meaning
- Like the haze that lingers on Tsukuba's peaks, that man cannot bring himself to pass by and stands there sighing—take him to bed, and then send him on his way.
- Commentary
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Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3388
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like haze that clings motionless to Tsukuba's peaks, a man lingers sighing at a girl's door, and the singer urges her to lie with him before sending him home. The tone is open and cheerful, as if a third party were playing matchmaker.
The next ten poems are from Hitachi Province, present-day Ibaraki, as the left note says: "The ten poems above are from Hitachi Province." Mount Tsukuba was famed for utagaki, gatherings where men and women met, and this poem is thought to convey that atmosphere.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.
First line, "tsukubane no": Mount Tsukuba in Hitachi; many of the ten Hitachi poems sing of it.
Second line, "nero ni kasumi i": "Nero" is an eastern word for peak, and "kasumi i" is haze resting there. The first two lines form a preface leading to "sugikate ni."
Third line, "sugikate ni": "Katenu" means unable: unable to pass by.
Fourth line, "ikizuku kimi o": "Ikizuku" means to sigh, picturing the man reluctant to leave.
Final line, "inete yarasane": "Inu" is to take someone to bed, and "sane" adds respect and a wish: let him go home afterward.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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