Tabi nareba omoitaete mo aritsuredo ie ni aru imo shi omoiganashi mo

旅なれば思ひ絶えてもありつれど
家にある妹し思ひ悲しも

Roma-ji: Tabi nareba omoitaete mo aritsuredo ie ni aru imo shi omoiganashi mo
English Translation: Since I am traveling
I have tried to put my thoughts
of home aside, and yet
when I think of my love at home
how sad it makes me feel
Meaning: Since I am on a journey, I have tried to cut off my thoughts of home; yet when I think of my wife at home, how sad I feel.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3686

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Seven poems composed on the night the ship anchored at Komashima Lodge in Matsura District, Hizen Province, each man gazing far over the waves and grieving in his traveling heart"
He has tried to cut off his thoughts, telling himself he is on a journey, but when he thinks of his wife at home he feels sad after all. One who has held back his heart to endure the hardships of travel frankly pours out feelings he can no longer restrain. The effort of the upper phrase and the lament of the lower are set against each other by an adversative, heightening the force of his longing for home.
According to the headnote, this is one of seven poems composed on the night the ship anchored at Komashima Lodge in Matsura District, Hizen Province, each gazing far over the waves and expressing the grief of travel. Komashima is thought to be Kashiwajima Island in present-day Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, a harbor before the crossing to Iki. This poem has no left note, and the author is not named.

First line, "tabi nareba": since I am on a journey.
Second line, "omoitaete mo": "omoitayu" means to cut off one's thoughts, to give up: even cutting off my thoughts.
Third line, "aritsuredo": "tsure" is the realis of the perfective "tsu"; with the adversative "do" it turns: though I have lived so.
Fourth line, "ie ni aru imo shi": "shi" is an emphatic particle: my wife who is at home.
Fifth line, "omoiganashi mo": sad when I think of her, with exclamatory "mo."
Source: Manyoshu
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