Toshi ni arite hitoyo imo ni au hikoboshi mo ware ni masarite omouran ya zo - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年にありて一夜妹に逢ふ彦星も
我にまさりて思ふらんやぞ

Roma-ji: Toshi ni arite hitoyo imo ni au hikoboshi mo ware ni masarite omouran ya zo
English Translation: Through the year he waits,
for one night to meet his love;
could the Herdsman Star
surpass me in the longing
that he feels? Surely he does not.
Meaning: Could even the Herdsman Star, who waits a year to meet his beloved for one night, long for her more than I do? Surely not.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 148

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Even the Herdsman Star, who meets his wife only one night a year, surely does not long for her as much as the poet does. Invoking the love of the two stars of Tanabata, the poem forcefully declares the depth of the poet's own love.
The author, written as Hitomaro, is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
A similar poem is found among the Tanabata poems in Book Ten of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "toshi ni arite," means "having spent a year," and has an extra syllable.
Second line, "hitoyo imo ni au," means "meeting his beloved for one night only," and has an extra syllable. Like "hitotose ni hitoyo" in 150 of this book, it presents the Tanabata meeting through the contrast of a year and a night.
Third line, "hikoboshi mo," means "even the Herdsman Star."
Fourth line, "ware ni masarite," means "more than I." Following the preceding poem, in which the watcher suffers more than the Herdsman, this poem also compares the Herdsman with the poet and claims the poet's longing is greater.
Final line, "omouran ya zo," means "does he long so? Surely not," with "ran" as an auxiliary of present conjecture and "ya" expressing a rhetorical question.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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