影見ればいとど心ぞまどはるる
近からぬけの疎きなりけり
近からぬけの疎きなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Kage mireba itodo kokoro zo madowaruru chikakaranu ke no utoki narikeri
- English Translation
-
When I see your form
my heart grows ever more lost
and wanders astray—
this is some unfamiliar
spirit, nothing dear to me
- Meaning
- Looking at this likeness only troubles my heart all the more. It turns out to be the form of some unfamiliar spirit, nothing I could feel close to.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 910
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that looking at the likeness only troubles her heart all the more, for it is the form of some unfamiliar spirit. Sent a demon's picture as her friend's own face, she retorts in jest that so frightful a face brings no comfort and only unsettles her.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 909, taking up its "kage" in the first line. It is a playful exchange possible only between close women friends.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage. She served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda, and won the emperor's favor. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, her "naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The first line, "Kage mireba," means "when I look at the likeness," taking up "kage" from the preceding poem.
The second line, "itodo kokoro zo," means "my heart all the more," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle.
The third line, "madowaruru," means "is thrown into confusion," closing the "zo" of the second line with the attributive. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "chikakaranu ke no," means "of an unfamiliar spirit," "ke" being a malign spirit, here the demon in the picture.
The last line, "utoki narikeri," means "it is something remote and unwelcome," with "keri" expressing realization. It answers "uchitokete," at ease, in the preceding poem with "utoki," distant.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Koishiku wa kage o dani mite nagusameyo waga uchitokete shinobu kao nari
- Next Poem
-
Hitogoto no uki o mo shirazu arikaseshi mukashi nagara no waga mi tomogana