千葉の野の児手柏のほほまれど
あやに愛しみ置きて誰が来ぬ
あやに愛しみ置きて誰が来ぬ
- Roma-ji
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Chiba no nu no konotegashiwa no hohomaredo aya ni kanashimi okite ta ga kinu
- English Translation
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On the plain of Chiba
the konotegashiwa's leaves
are still furled and young;
so dear to me, yet left behind,
and who was it came away?
- Meaning
- Like the young leaves of the konotegashiwa on Chiba Plain, still furled tight, she was young, yet so dear to me; and who was it that left her and came away?
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4387
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."
Like the konotegashiwa leaves on Chiba Plain, still furled, she was young yet so dear; who was it that left her and came away? The poet questions himself. It is the fourth poem from Shimōsa. With self-mockery, admitting that it was none other than himself who left, he voices regret at parting. Nu for no, "plain," is an eastern pronunciation.
The author, Ōtabe no Taruhito, was a guard from Chiba District in Shimōsa; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "Chiba no nu no," names the plain of his home.
The second line, "konotegashiwa no," a kind of oak whose leaves look like a child's hand; the first two lines form a preface leading to hohomaredo.
The third line, "hohomaredo," "though still furled," likens her to something young and unopened.
The fourth line, "aya ni kanashimi," means "loving her beyond words."
The closing line, "okite ta ga kinu," "who left her and came?" ends with regret, questioning himself.
- Author
- Ōtabe no Taruhito
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Waga kazu no itsumoto yanagi itsumo itsumo omo ga koisusu narimashitsu shimo
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Tabi to edo matabi ni narinu ie no mo ga kiseshi koromo ni aka tsukinikari