波の上に浮き寝せし宵あど思へか
心悲しく夢に見えつる
心悲しく夢に見えつる
- Roma-ji
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Nami no ue ni ukine seshi yoi ado moe ka kokoroganashiku ime ni mietsuru
- English Translation
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Upon the waves
the night I slept afloat,
what was she thinking,
that so sad of heart
she appeared in my dream
- Meaning
- On the night I slept afloat upon the waves, what could my wife have been thinking, that she came to me in a dream so sorrowful at heart?
- Commentary
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Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3639
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems composed afterward, two nights after passing the Naruto strait of Ōshima"
Recalling the night after passing the perilous Naruto strait, when his wife appeared sorrowful in his dream as he slept upon the waves, he wonders what she was thinking. It was then believed that when someone thinks of you, they appear in your dreams, and in her sorrowful figure he senses her heart anxious for his safety. A dream seen amid the unease of passing a dangerous strait is sung as a recollection two nights later. There is no left note, and the author is not named.
According to the headnote, this is one of two poems composed in recollection two nights after passing the Naruto strait of Ōshima. The strait is thought to be the Ōbatake Channel between Suō-Ōshima and the mainland, a dangerous passage with swift tidal currents.
First line, "nami no ue ni": upon the waves, afloat on a rocking ship.
Second line, "ukine seshi yoi": "ukine" is sleeping afloat upon the waves, and "shi" the attributive of the past "ki": the night I slept afloat.
Third line, "ado moe ka": "ado" means how, why: what was she thinking, that. "Ka" is an interrogative binding particle resolved by the attributive "tsuru."
Fourth line, "kokoroganashiku": sorrowful to the depths of the heart, describing how his wife appeared in the dream.
Fifth line, "ime ni mietsuru": "ime" is the old word for dream; "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu," answering "ka" in the third line.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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