大君の命畏み出で来れば
我の取り付きて言ひし子なはも
我の取り付きて言ひし子なはも
- Roma-ji
-
Ōkimi no mikoto kashikomi idekureba wa no toritsukite iishi kona wa mo
- English Translation
-
Our great lord's command
I received with awe and dread,
and as I came out
she clung to me as she spoke,
ah, that girl of mine, my love
- Meaning
- When I came away in awe of my lord's command, she clung to me and spoke her farewell, that dear girl of mine.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4358
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."
When I came away under my lord's command, she clung to me and spoke, that girl of mine: the poem recalls the moment of parting. It is the twelfth poem from Kazusa. After the weeping wife of the preceding poem comes the wife who clings to him, layering memories of the farewell. Wa no is a dialect form of wa ni, and kona adds a suffix to ko.
The author, Mononobe no Tatsu, is recorded as a regular guard from Suetake District in Kazusa; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "ōkimi no," recurs in the guards' poems, naming the source of the command.
The second line, "mikoto kashikomi," "in awe of the command": the first two lines match those of a Sagami guard's poem.
The third line, "idekureba," means "when I came out from home."
The fourth line, "wa no toritsukite," means "clinging to me."
The closing line, "iishi kona wa mo," ends in the exclamatory wa mo, fondly recalling the wife who spoke to him.
- Author
- Mononobe no Tatsu
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Ashikaki no kumato ni tachite wagimoko ga sode mo shihoho ni nakishi zo mowayu
- Next Poem
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Tsukushi e ni hemukaru fune no itsushikamo tsukaematsurite kuni ni hemukamo