昼解けば解けなへ紐の我が背なに
相寄るとかも夜解けやすけ
相寄るとかも夜解けやすけ
- Roma-ji
-
Hiru tokeba tokenae himo no waga sena ni aiyoru to kamo yoru tokeyasuke
- English Translation
-
When I try by day,
my cord will not come undone;
to my dearest man
does it long to draw close, then?—
by night it slips so easily.
- Meaning
- By day, when I try to untie it, my cord will not come loose—does it wish to draw near my husband? By night it comes undone so easily.
- Commentary
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Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3483
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
A cord that will not loosen by day comes undone so easily at night—is it because it wants to draw close to her lover? So a woman sings. Against the folk belief that a cord coming loose foretold a meeting with one's lover, it shows a charming love.
It is one of the love exchanges. The belief that a loosening cord foretold meeting one's lover appears often in the Man'yōshū.
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, "hiru tokeba": "If I untie it by day," pairing with "night" in the last line.
Second line, "tokenae himo no": "Nae" is an eastern negative: a cord that will not come loose.
Third line, "waga sena ni": "Sena" is an eastern endearment for a husband or lover.
Fourth line, "aiyoru to kamo": "Does it wish to draw near?" with "kamo" interrogative.
Final line, "yoru tokeyasuke": "Yasuke" is an eastern form of "yasuki": at night it loosens easily, set against "day" in the first line.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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