橘の美袁利の里に父を置きて
道の長道は行きかてのかも
道の長道は行きかてのかも
- Roma-ji
-
Tachibana no Miori no sato ni chichi o okite michi no nagachi wa yukikate no kamo
- English Translation
-
In Tachibana's
village called Miori
leaving my father,
the long and lengthy roadway
is so hard for me to go
- Meaning
- Leaving my father behind in the village of Miori in Tachibana, how hard it is to go along this long, long road.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4341
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
Leaving my father in the village of Miori in Tachibana, how hard it is to go this long road: the poem sings of feet that will not move for thought of his father. It is the fifth poem from Suruga. Tachibana is thought to be a place name in Suruga and Miori a village within it, though neither location is certain. Kate no is a dialect form of katenu.
The author, Hasetsukabe no Tarimaro, was a guard from Suruga; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "Tachibana no," is a place name pointing to the village of Miori.
The second line, "Miori no sato ni," names the author's home village.
The third line, "chichi o okite," is hypermetric: "leaving my father." Naming only his father hints at his family circumstances.
The fourth line, "michi no nagachi wa," doubles the idea of road: "the long, long way."
The closing line, "yukikate no kamo," uses katsu, "to be able," and no, a dialect form of the negative nu, ending with a sigh: I cannot go on.
- Author
- Hasetsukabe no Tarimaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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