おしていなと稲は搗かねど波の穂の
いたぶらしもよ昨夜ひとり寝て
いたぶらしもよ昨夜ひとり寝て
- Roma-ji
-
Oshite ina to ine wa tsukanedo nami no ho no itaburashimo yo kizo hitori nete
- English Translation
-
Though I did not say
"No!" and push the rice-pounding off,
like the crests of waves
how my heart is tossed and churned,
having slept alone last night.
- Meaning
- Though I did not refuse outright and leave the rice unpounded, my heart heaves like the crests of waves—for I slept alone last night.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3550
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Though she did not refuse him outright, she slept alone last night, and her heart is tossed like the crests of waves, a woman sings. Borrowing the rhythm of a rice-pounding work song, it conveys the turmoil of a night without her lover.
It is one of the love exchanges. Some take it as a song sung while pounding rice; like 3459, "ine tsukeba kakaru a ga te o," it sings of pounding rice.
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, "oshite ina to": "Oshite" means forcibly, and "ina" is a word of refusal; the line is hypermetric.
Second line, "ine wa tsukanedo": "Though I do not pound rice," playing on the sound of "ine" and "ina."
Third line, "nami no ho no": "Nami no ho" are wave crests, which toss and lead to "itaburu."
Fourth line, "itaburashimo yo": "Itaburashi" means violently shaken; the poem pauses here.
Final line, "kizo hitori nete": "Kizo" means last night; the inversion gives the reason for her turmoil at the end.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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