君を思ふ心を人にこゆるぎの
磯の玉藻や今も刈らまし
磯の玉藻や今も刈らまし
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi o omou kokoro o hito ni koyurugi no iso no tamamo ya ima mo karamashi
- English Translation
-
To show my heart
that loves you beyond all others,
on Koyurugi's
rocky shore, should I not
cut the jeweled seaweed now
- Meaning
- To show that my love for you surpasses anyone's, should I go now and cut the jewel-like seaweed on the rocky shore of Koyurugi?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems III 724
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that to show his love surpasses others', he might cut the seaweed on the shore of Koyurugi at once. Folding "koyu," to surpass, into the name of a poetic place, he would prove a love deeper than anyone's by gathering seaweed on a distant shore.
The poet, listed as "Mitsune," was Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. One of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū, he is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, and his "kokoroate ni oraba ya oramu hatsushimo no" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The first line, "Kimi o omou," means "loving you."
The second line, "kokoro o hito ni," means "my heart, above others."
The third line, "koyurugi no," is a pivot word joining the shore of Koyurugi, a poetic place in Sagami Province, with "koyuru," to surpass others.
The fourth line, "iso no tamamo ya," means "the fine seaweed of the rocky shore," with "ya" an interrogative particle.
The last line, "ima mo karamashi," means "should I cut it now," with "mashi" expressing hesitant intention and closing in the attributive in answer to "ya" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ausaka no ko no shitatsuyu ni nureshi yori waga koromode wa ima mo kawakazu
- Next Poem
-
Nakina zo to hito ni wa iite arinu beshi kokoro no towaba ikaga kotaen