たらちねの母を別れてまこと我れ
旅の仮廬に安く寝むかも
旅の仮廬に安く寝むかも
- Roma-ji
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Tarachine no haha o wakarete makoto ware tabi no kariho ni yasuku nemu kamo
- English Translation
-
From my mother's side,
she who nursed me, I have parted;
can I truly now
in a makeshift traveler's hut
lie down and sleep at ease?
- Meaning
- Parted from my mother who raised me, can I truly sleep in peace in the makeshift huts of the road?
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4348
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."
Parted from my mother, can I truly sleep at ease in the makeshift huts of the road? The poem voices the unease of longing for one's mother. It is the second poem from Kazusa, and after the father's poem comes the son's poem thinking of his mother.
The author, Kusakabe no Mikanaka, is recorded as a kuni no miyatsuko guard from Kazusa; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "tarachine no," is a pillow word for "mother."
The second line, "haha o wakarete," "parted from my mother," turns to the mother where the preceding poem was the father's.
The third line, "makoto ware," "truly, I," has the tone of questioning himself.
The fourth line, "tabi no kariho ni," refers to the temporary huts where travelers stay on the road.
The closing line, "yasuku nemu kamo," ends with kamo, exclamation tinged with doubt, fearing he cannot sleep in peace.
- Author
- Kusakabe no Mikanaka
- Source
- Manyoshu
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