恨めしく君はもあるか宿の梅の
散り過ぐるまで見しめずありける
散り過ぐるまで見しめずありける
- Roma-ji
-
Urameshiku kimi wa mo aru ka yado no ume no chirisuguru made mishimezu arikeru
- English Translation
-
How you make me sulk,
what a heartless friend you are!
Till your garden's plums
had scattered and passed their prime
you never let me see them
- Meaning
- How I resent you, my friend! You never let me see the plum blossoms in your garden until they had all scattered.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4496
Headnote: "In the second month, a banquet at the residence of Nakatomi no Kiyomaro, Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial; fifteen poems."
How I resent you, friend; you never let me see your garden plums until they had scattered! The poem teases the host, Kiyomaro, with mock reproach. According to the headnote, it is the first of fifteen poems from a banquet at Kiyomaro's residence in the second month of Tenpyō Hōji 2. The left note attributes it to Ōhara no Imaki, junior assistant minister of Ceremonial. Complaining that he was not invited when the plums were at their best, it serves as a greeting praising the host's plums. The host answers in the next poem.
The author, Ōhara no Imaki, a member of the Ōhara clan, was an official who was a close friend of Yakamochi. At this time he was junior assistant minister of Ceremonial.
The first line, "urameshiku," "how resentful," opens the playful complaint.
The second line, "kimi wa mo aru ka," "what a friend you are," with the exclamatory mo and ka. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "yado no ume no," "the plums of your garden," is hypermetric.
The fourth line, "chirisuguru made," "until they scattered," recurs in the fourth line of the next poem.
The closing line, "mishimezu arikeru," uses the causative shimu: you never let me see them.
- Author
- Ōhara no Imaki
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Uchinabiku haru tomo shiruku uguisu wa ueki no koma o nakiwataranamu
- Next Poem
-
Mimu to iwaba ina to iwame ya ume no hana chirisuguru made kimi ga kimasanu