天離る鄙ともしるくここだくも
繁き恋かもなぐる日もなく
繁き恋かもなぐる日もなく
- Roma-ji
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Amazakaru hina to mo shiruku kokodaku mo shigeki koi kamo naguru hi mo naku
- English Translation
-
Far as heaven's edge—
as befits these provinces,
how it is so thick,
so very thick, my longing,
and no day brings me calm
- Meaning
- Just as one would expect of a land so far from heaven's city, my longing is ever so deep, and not a day brings me peace.
- Commentary
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Book Seventeen 4019
Headnote: none (continuing from the preceding poem; there is no title; the left note reads, "The above four poems: twenty-ninth day of the first month, spring, of the twentieth year of Tenpyō, Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi")
As befits a land so far from the capital, his longing is so intense that no day brings calm—a poem of homesickness. This is one of four poems Yakamochi composed in Etchū on the twenty-ninth day of the first month of 748. Turning from the seascapes of the two preceding poems, it frankly states the longing for the capital felt by one at a distant post.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
First line, "amazakaru": a pillow word for hina ("the provinces").
Second line, "hina to mo shiruku": shirushi means clear, evident—"so clearly showing it is the provinces."
Third line, "kokodaku mo": "so very much."
Fourth line, "shigeki koi kamo": "how thick my longing"; the poem pauses here. The object of longing is the capital and its people.
Fifth line, "naguru hi mo naku": nagu means for the heart to grow calm—"with no day of calm," adding the lament afterward by inversion.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Minatokaze samuku fukurashi Nago no e ni tsuma yobikawashi tazu sawa ni naku
- Next Poem
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Koshi no umi no Shinanu no hama o yukikurashi nagaki haruhi mo wasurete omoe ya