厭へどもつらき形見を見る時は
まづたけからぬ音こそ泣かるれ
まづたけからぬ音こそ泣かるれ
- Roma-ji
-
Itoedomo tsuraki katami o miru toki wa mazu takekaranu ne koso nakarure
- English Translation
-
Though I would shun it,
whenever I see the keepsake
of one so cruel,
first of all, a feeble sound
of weeping escapes from me.
- Meaning
- Though I try to shun it, whenever I see the keepsake of that cruel one, a feeble cry of weeping escapes me before all else.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Names of Things 397
Headnote: "Matsutake (pine mushroom)"
The poet says that though he tries to shun it, whenever he sees the keepsake left by a cruel lover, a feeble cry of weeping escapes him first of all. Singing of the grief of a love one wishes to forget but cannot, the poem hides the name of the pine mushroom given in the headnote in the run of sounds "mazu takekaranu" in the fourth line. The headnote names the thing hidden in the poem.
The author, written as Sukemi, is Fujiwara no Sukemi. A son of Fujiwara no Hirotsune, he was a mid-Heian poet known as Tōroku. He excelled at poems hiding the names of things, and his personal collection is the Tōrokushū.
First line, "itoedomo," means "though I would shun it," with "domo" a concessive particle.
Second line, "tsuraki katami o," means "the keepsake of a cruel one."
Third line, "miru toki wa," means "whenever I see it."
Fourth line, "mazu takekaranu," means "first, unmanly and feeble," hiding the name "matsutake" in "mazu take" as in the preceding poem. Where the preceding poem read "mazu take" as "first build up the fire," here it becomes "first, not bold," turning the same sounds to another sense.
Final line, "ne koso nakarure," means "I cannot help weeping aloud," with "rure" the perfective form of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru," resolving "koso."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Sukemi
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ashihiki no yamashitamizu ni nurenikeri sono hi mazu take koromo aburan
- Next Poem
-
Yama takami hana no iro o mo miru beki ni nikuku tachinuru harugasumi kana