わがたちて着るこそうけれ夏衣
おほかたとのみ見べき薄さを
おほかたとのみ見べき薄さを
- Roma-ji
-
Waga tachite kiru koso ukere natsugoromo ōkata to nomi mibeki ususa o
- English Translation
-
That you should wear it,
cut by my own hands, is hard—
this summer garment,
whose thinness, I fear, you'll see
as nothing out of the common
- Meaning
- It pains me that you should wear this summer robe I cut and sewed myself, for you will surely see its thinness as nothing out of the ordinary.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1054
Headnote: "Attached when she made a set of summer clothes and sent them to Prince Motonaga."
The poet says it pains her that he should wear the summer robe she cut and sewed, for he will see its thinness as merely ordinary. Overlaying the thinness of the summer robe with the thinness of his heart, she laments that though she made it with care, he will receive it as something commonplace.
According to the headnote, she attached it to a set of summer clothes she made and sent to Prince Motonaga, a son of Emperor Yōzei. 1019 in this book likewise overlays the thinness of a summer robe with a thin heart, so two poems on summer robes are set in the first and second halves of the book.
The poet, listed as "the daughter of the Nan'in Minister of Ceremonial Prince," was a daughter of Prince Koretada. Her father, a son of Emperor Kōkō, was called the Nan'in and served as Minister of Ceremonial.
The first line, "Waga tachite," means "cut by me," with "tachi" meaning to cut cloth.
The second line, "kiru koso ukere," means "that you should wear it pains me," with "koso" an emphatic binding particle closed by the perfective "ukere." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "natsugoromo," means "a summer robe," the same word as the first line of 1019 in this book.
The fourth line, "ōkata to nomi," means "as nothing but common," saying that a gift made with care will be treated as ordinary.
The last line, "mibeki ususa o," means "a thinness you will see so," overlaying the thinness of the robe with a thin heart. "O" is a conjunctive particle carrying feeling.
- Author
- Daughter of Prince Koretada
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Okidokoro naki omoi to shi kikitsureba ware ni ikura mo araji to zo omou
- Next Poem
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Yaemugura sashiteshi kado o imasara ni nani ni kuyashiku akete machiken