日の暮れに碓氷の山を越ゆる日は
背なのが袖もさやに振らしつ
背なのが袖もさやに振らしつ
- Roma-ji
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Hi no gure ni usui no yama o koyuru hi wa senanoga sode mo saya ni furashitsu
- English Translation
-
At the close of day
crossing over Usui's heights,
on that day he went,
my dear husband waved his sleeve—
I saw it clear against the sky.
- Meaning
- On the day he crossed the Usui mountain at dusk, my husband waved his sleeve to me, clear for me to see.
- Commentary
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Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3402
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
On the day her husband crossed the Usui pass at dusk, a wife recalls, he waved his sleeve plainly in farewell. The figure fading over the mountain and the sleeve she clearly saw remain vivid as the memory of parting.
The next twenty-two poems are from Kōzuke Province, present-day Gunma, as the left note says: "The twenty-two poems above are from Kōzuke Province." It is the largest group from any province. The Usui pass lay on the border of Kōzuke and Shinano and was a notorious hard point on the Tōsandō road.
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, "hi no gure ni": Evening, the lonely hour of parting.
Second line, "usui no yama o": The Usui pass on the border of Kōzuke and Shinano; the first Kōzuke poem names the border pass.
Third line, "koyuru hi wa": The day of crossing the pass; "hi" (day) echoes the "hi" of the first line.
Fourth line, "senanoga sode mo": "Senano" is an eastern endearment for a husband.
Final line, "saya ni furashitsu": "Saya ni" means clearly, and "furashitsu" means he waved, with honorific nuance.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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