たちかへり泣けども我れは験なみ
思ひわぶれて寝る夜しぞ多き
思ひわぶれて寝る夜しぞ多き
- Roma-ji
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Tachikaeri nakedomo are wa shirushi nami omoiwaburete nuru yo shi zo ōki
- English Translation
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Over and over
I weep, and yet for me
there is no use in it;
worn out with grieving
many a night I sleep
- Meaning
- Over and over I weep, yet it does me no good; worn out with grief, I fall asleep night after night.
- Commentary
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Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3759
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
He sings that since weeping over and over does no good, many are the nights he falls asleep exhausted with grief. It expresses the helplessness that weeping changes nothing and the piling up of nights when he can only sleep, worn out with lamenting. From the resentment toward the court in the preceding poem, his heart returns once more to his own grief.
The author, Nakatomi no Yakamori, was a son of Nakatomi no Azumahito, from the Nakatomi clan in charge of the rites of the gods. He was exiled to Echizen Province for an offense, but was later pardoned and returned to the capital.
A left note reads "the above thirteen poems are by Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori"; the thirteen poems from 3754 to 3766 of this book were sent by Yakamori to the young woman from his place of exile. The latter half of this book contains sixty-three poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome. According to the book's table of contents, when Yakamori took as his wife the young woman, a lady-in-waiting of the palace storehouse office, he was exiled to Echizen Province by imperial decree. The place of exile is thought to be Ajimano in Echizen, near present-day Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture.
First line, "tachikaeri": over and over, again and again.
Second line, "nakedomo are wa": with the adversative "domo": though I weep, I.
Third line, "shirushi nami": "shirushi" is effect, and "nami" is "nashi" with "mi," giving a cause: since there is no use.
Fourth line, "omoiwaburete": "omoiwabu" means to grieve and be worn out with grief: exhausted by brooding.
Fifth line, "nuru yo shi zo ōki": "shi" is emphatic and "zo" a binding particle resolved by the attributive "ōki" (kakarimusubi). An eight-syllable hypermetric line.
- Author
- Nakatomi no Yakamori
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Sasudake no ōmiyabito wa ima mo ka mo hitonaburi nomi konomitaruramu
- Next Poem
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Sanuru yo wa ōku aredomo mono mowazu yasuku nuru yo wa sane naki mono o