潮舟の舳越そ白波にはしくも
負ふせたまほか思はへなくに
負ふせたまほか思はへなくに
- Roma-ji
-
Shiofune no he koso shiranami niwashiku mo ofusetamaho ka omowaenaku ni
- English Translation
-
Like the white-capped waves
breaking over a sea boat's prow,
sudden and swift,
was it laid upon me so,
when I never thought it would be?
- Meaning
- Like white waves sweeping over the prow of a seagoing boat, how suddenly the duty was laid upon me, when I had never thought of it.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4389
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 white waves sweeping over a sea boat's prow, how suddenly the duty was laid on me, when I never imagined it: the poem voices shock at sudden conscription. It is the sixth poem from Shimōsa. It lays the fury of white waves breaking over the prow over the fate that befell him without warning. Koso for kosu and ofusetamaho for ohosetamau are thought to be dialect forms.
The author, Hasetsukabe no Ōmaro, was a guard from Inba District in Shimōsa; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "shiofune no," means "of a boat on the sea lanes."
The second line, "he koso shiranami," "white waves crossing the prow": the first two lines form a preface leading to niwashiku mo.
The third line, "niwashiku mo," "suddenly," turns from the force of the waves to the suddenness of conscription.
The fourth line, "ofusetamaho ka," means "was it laid upon me?"
The closing line, "omowaenaku ni," "though I never thought of it," laments the surprise.
- Author
- Hasetsukabe no Ōmaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Tabi to edo matabi ni narinu ie no mo ga kiseshi koromo ni aka tsukinikari
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Muratama no kuru ni kugi sashi katametoshi imo ga kokoro wa ayoku name kamo