見初めずてあらましものを唐衣
たつ名のみして着る夜なきかな
たつ名のみして着る夜なきかな
- Roma-ji
-
Misomezu te aramashi mono o karakoromo tatsu na nomi shite kiru yo naki kana
- English Translation
-
Better had I never
set eyes on you at all—
as a Chinese robe is cut,
rumors rise, yet never a night
when we wear it together
- Meaning
- It would have been better never to have seen you; like a fine robe that is cut and never worn, rumors alone have risen, and there is no night when we lie together.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems I 539
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says it would have been better never to have seen her, for only rumors have risen and there is no night when they lie together. Regretting a love in which rumors spread without any meeting, he laments it through the image of a fine robe.
Like 534 in this book, it places "tatsu na nomi shite" in the fourth line and sings of the emptiness of a love that yields only rumors.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."
The first line, "Misomezu te," means "without having first set eyes on you."
In the second line, "mashi" is a counterfactual auxiliary: "it would have been better." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "karakoromo," means "a fine robe," leading to "tatsu" in the fourth line and "kiru" in the last.
In the fourth line, "tatsu" is a pivot word meaning both "cutting" cloth and rumors "rising." It is the same line as the fourth line of 534 in this book.
The last line, "kiru yo naki kana," means "there is no night of wearing it together," with "kiru," to wear, an associated word with the robe.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Yume ni dani miru koto zo naki toshi o hete kokoro nodoka ni nuru yo nakereba
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Karehatsuru hana no kokoro wa tsurakarade toki suginikeru mi o zo uramuru