高円の秋野の上の朝霧に
妻呼ぶ壮鹿出で立つらむか
妻呼ぶ壮鹿出で立つらむか
- Roma-ji
-
Takamato no akino no ue no asagiri ni tsuma yobu oshika idetatsuramu ka
- English Translation
-
In the morning mist
that lies above the autumn
fields of Takamato,
is the stag that calls its mate
standing out there even now?
- Meaning
- In the morning mist over the autumn fields of Takamato, might the stag calling for its mate be standing out there now?
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4319
Headnote: none. Continuing the left note above, this is one of six poems Yakamochi composed while thinking alone of the autumn fields.
In the morning mist over the autumn fields of Takamato, might the stag calling its mate be standing there now? The poem imagines a morning scene in distant fields. According to the left note, it is the fifth of the six poems, shifting from flowers to the deer. Yakamochi's poem on the Takamato plain near the head of this book also sings of a stag calling as it parts the bush clover.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.
The first line, "Takamato no," is the same as the first line of the second poem of the set, naming the setting again.
The second line, "akino no ue no," "over the autumn fields," takes up "aki no no ni" of the preceding poem.
The third line, "asagiri ni," means "in the morning mist," imagining the deer within the hazy scene.
The fourth line, "tsuma yobu oshika," is the stag crying for its mate in autumn, a figure tinged with the feeling of love.
The closing line, "idetatsuramu ka," with ramu, present conjecture, wonders whether it is standing out there now.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Aki no no ni tsuyu oeru hagi o taorazute atara sakari o sugushitemu to ka
- Next Poem
-
Masurao no yobitateshikaba saoshika no munawake yukamu akino hagihara