春日野の飛火の野守見しものを
なき名と言はば罪もこそ得れ
なき名と言はば罪もこそ得れ
- Roma-ji
-
Kasugano no Tobuhi no nomori mishi mono o naki na to iwaba tsumi mo koso ure
- English Translation
-
The watchman of the fields
at Tobuhi on Kasuga Moor
saw it with his eyes—
if you call it baseless rumor,
you may find the sin is yours
- Meaning
- The field warden at Tobuhi on Kasuga Moor saw it all—if you call it a baseless rumor, it is you who may end up in the wrong.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Love Poems II 663
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that since the field warden at Tobuhi on Kasuga Moor saw it, calling it a groundless rumor would only bring guilt upon her. Against the preceding poem's dismissal of the rumor as baseless, he retorts that there was a witness.
It is a reply to the preceding poem, 662, taking up its "naki na" to retort. Drawing on the Kokin Wakashū poem "Kasugano no Tobuhi no nomori idete miyo ima ikuka arite wakana tsumiten," it treats the warden of Tobuhi as a watcher.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Kasugano no," means "of Kasuga Moor," a poetic place in Yamato.
The second line, "Tobuhi no nomori," is the warden of Tobuhi Field on Kasuga Moor, originally the keeper of a beacon tower; here he stands for someone who witnessed the couple.
The third line, "mishi mono o," means "though he saw it," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "naki na to iwaba," means "if you call it a groundless rumor," taking up "naki na o tatete" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The last line, "tsumi mo koso ure," means "you may well incur guilt," with "koso" emphatic and closing with "ure," the perfective of "u," a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Omowamu to tanomeshi koto mo aru mono o naki na o tatete tada ni wasurene
- Next Poem
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Wasurarete omou nageki no shigeru o ya mi o Hazukashi no mori to iuran