白波の寄そる浜辺に別れなば
いともすべなみ八度袖振る
いともすべなみ八度袖振る
- Roma-ji
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Shiranami no yosoru hamabe ni wakarenaba itomo subenami yatabi sode furu
- English Translation
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On the sandy shore
where the white-capped waves come in,
when we've said goodbye
with no way to ease the pain
eight times over I wave my sleeve
- Meaning
- When we part on the shore where the white waves break, with nothing else I can do, I wave my sleeves again and again.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4379
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 we part on the shore where white waves break, helpless, I wave my sleeves again and again: the poem pictures the farewell at sailing. It is the seventh poem from Shimotsuke. Waving one's sleeves was a gesture of regret at parting, thought to draw the other's spirit near, and "eight times" conveys the depth of feeling. Yosoru is a dialect form of yosuru.
The author, Ōtoneribe no Nemaro, is recorded as a regular guard from Ashikaga District in Shimotsuke; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "shiranami no," the white waves breaking on the beach, shows the scene of sailing.
The second line, "yosoru hamabe ni," means "on the beach where they break."
The third line, "wakarenaba," "if we part," is a supposition.
The fourth line, "itomo subenami," uses subenami, "because nothing can be done," strengthened by itomo.
The closing line, "yatabi sode furu," "I wave my sleeves eight times," eight meaning many, ending with the gesture of farewell.
- Author
- Ōtoneribe no Nemaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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