うましものいづく飽かじをさかとらが
角のふくれにしぐひ合ひにけむ
角のふくれにしぐひ合ひにけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Umashi mono izuku akaji o Sakatora ga tsuno no fukure ni shigui ainikemu
- English Translation
-
A splendid match—
where could there be a flaw?
Yet the Sakato girl,
why did she take up instead
with that lumpy, bumpy horn?
- Meaning
- With a splendid match on offer, what fault could she find? Yet why did the Sakato girl go and pair herself with a fellow like a swollen horn?
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3821
Headnote: "A mocking poem by Princess Kobe; one poem."
The poem mocks a maiden for her choice, asking why, when a fine partner would have left nothing to be desired, she paired off with such a man. It sharply ridicules her for spurning a handsome man of high birth for an ugly one of low birth.
According to the left note, a maiden of the Sakato clan refused the suit of a handsome man of noble family and accepted that of an ugly man of humble family, so Princess Kobe made this poem to laugh at her foolishness.
Princess Kobe is a princess about whom nothing further is known.
First line, "umashi mono," means "a splendid one," a fine partner.
Second line, "izuku akaji o," means "what fault could she find?" The concessive o leads on to the lines that follow.
Third line, "Sakatora ga," is taken to mean the maiden of the Sakato clan, reading the left note's 尺度 as Sakato with ra added, though other readings exist.
Fourth line, "tsuno no fukure ni," means "with one like a swollen horn," understood as a figure for an ugly man.
Final line, "shigui ainikemu," means "why did she pair with him?" The past conjectural kemu conveys mocking incomprehension.
- Author
- Princess Kobe
- Source
- Manyoshu
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