織女の天の門渡る今宵さへ
遠方人のつれなかるらむ
遠方人のつれなかるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tanabata no ama no to wataru koyoi sae ochikatabito no tsurenakaruramu
- English Translation
-
Even on this night
when the Weaver Maid crosses
the straits of Heaven,
why should that one far away
still be so cold to me
- Meaning
- Even tonight, when the Weaver Maid crosses the straits of Heaven, why must the one so far from me stay cold?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems I 238
Headnote: "On the seventh."
The poet laments that even tonight, when the Weaver Maid crosses the River of Heaven to meet her love, the one far away remains cold. The meeting of Tanabata is set against the poet's own love, in which no one comes.
According to the headnote, it was composed on the seventh of the Seventh Month.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The text gives the fourth line as "ochikatabito no," which does not match "ochikachihito no" in the kana reading line. The wording of the text is followed here.
The first line, "Tanabata no," means "the Weaver Maid."
The second line, "ama no to wataru," means "crossing the straits of Heaven," the same phrase as "ama no to wataru" in 228 of this book.
In the third line, "sae" is an additive particle: "even tonight."
The fourth line, "ochikatabito no," means "the one far away," a beloved as distant as someone on the far bank of the River of Heaven.
In the last line, "ramu" is an auxiliary conjecturing a cause: "why should they be so cold?"
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Au koto no koyoi suginaba tanabata ni otori ya shinan koi wa masarite
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Ama no kawa tōki watari wa nakeredomo kimi ga funade wa toshi ni koso mate