我妹子と二人我が見しうち寄する
駿河の嶺らは恋しくめあるか
駿河の嶺らは恋しくめあるか
- Roma-ji
-
Wagimeko to futari waga mishi uchiesuru Suruga no nera wa kufushikume aru ka
- English Translation
-
With my dearest wife
side by side I gazed on them,
where the waves draw near,
the high peaks of Suruga,
oh how I long for them now
- Meaning
- The peaks of Suruga that my wife and I gazed at together, how I miss them now.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4345
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."
How I long for the peaks of Suruga that my wife and I gazed at together: the poem lays memories of his wife over the mountains of home. It is the ninth poem from Suruga. Through the concrete memory of mountains seen side by side, it expresses longing for home and wife as one. Wagimeko for wagimoko and kufushiku for koishiku are dialect forms.
The author, Kasugabe no Maro, was a guard from Suruga; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "wagimeko to," an affectionate name for his wife, names the one he gazed with.
The second line, "futari waga mishi," "that we two looked on," is the scene of memory.
The third line, "uchiesuru," from waves breaking on the shore, is a pillow word for Suruga.
The fourth line, "Suruga no nera wa," with the suffix ra, refers to the peaks of Suruga, calling Mount Fuji to mind.
The closing line, "kufushikume aru ka," "how dear they are," ends with the exclamatory ka.
- Author
- Kasugabe no Maro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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