家人の斎へにかあらむ平けく
船出はしぬと親に申さね
船出はしぬと親に申さね
- Roma-ji
-
Iebito no iwae ni ka aramu tairakeku funade wa shinu to oya ni mōsane
- English Translation
-
Is it thanks to them,
the prayers my family make?
"Safe and well," I'd say,
"we have set sail from the shore":
tell my parents this for me
- Meaning
- Perhaps it is thanks to the prayers of my family at home; please tell my parents that we have set sail safely.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4409
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," followed by "A poem with tanka setting forth the feelings of the frontier guards at parting."
Perhaps thanks to my family's prayers, we have set sail safely; please tell my parents: speaking as a guard, the poem sends word home. According to the headnote, it is the first envoy to a long poem (4408 in this book) setting forth the guards' grief at parting, and the left note dates it to the twenty-third day of the second month, by Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Taking up the long poem's close, "tell my family," it expresses a guard's wish to let his parents know he sailed safely.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.
The first line, "iebito no," means the people of his household.
The second line, "iwae ni ka aramu," "might it be because they keep pure and pray?" uses ka for a question. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "tairakeku," means "safely."
The fourth line, "funade wa shinu to," "that we have set sail," is the message. A guard's own poem says "tell my wife I have rowed out now," with the same idea.
The closing line, "oya ni mōsane," uses ne, a request: please tell my parents.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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