思ひやる心は常に通へども
逢坂の関越えずもあるかな
逢坂の関越えずもあるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Omoiyaru kokoro wa tsune ni kayoedomo Ausaka no seki koezu mo aru kana
- English Translation
-
My heart that goes to you
is always on its way,
and yet, it seems,
the Barrier of Ōsaka
I have never crossed at all
- Meaning
- My heart, reaching out to you, is forever on its way, yet the Barrier of Ōsaka, the Hill of Meeting, I have never crossed.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems I 516
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that his heart, reaching out to her, always goes to her, yet he cannot cross the Barrier of Ōsaka, whose name means meeting. It laments that though the heart alone travels to the beloved, an actual meeting cannot be had.
Using the Barrier of Ōsaka as the emblem of meeting, the poem contrasts a heart that reaches her with a body that cannot.
The poet, Mimune no Kintada, was an official of the mid-Heian period. He has poems in the Gosen Wakashū, but few details of his career have come down to us.
The first line, "Omoiyaru," means "sending one's thoughts from afar."
The second line, "kokoro wa tsune ni," means "my heart, always."
The third line, "kayoedomo," means "though it goes to and fro," with "domo" a concessive particle.
The fourth line, "Ausaka no seki," is the barrier on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi, a poetic place sung in love poems for the "au," to meet, in its name.
In the last line, "kana" is an exclamatory particle: "I have not crossed it at all."
- Author
- Mimune no Kintada
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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