ちちわくに人は言ふとも織りて着む
我が機物に白き麻衣
我が機物に白き麻衣
- Roma-ji
-
Chichiwaku ni hito wa iu tomo orite kimu waga hatamono ni shiroki asaginu
- English Translation
-
Whatever people
may say of me in their gossip,
I will weave and wear
the robe upon my loom,
my robe of pure white hemp.
- Meaning
- Whatever people may say, I will weave it and wear it—the white hemp robe on my own loom.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 475
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that whatever people may say, he will weave and wear the white hemp robe on his own loom. He entrusts to the work of weaving a white hemp robe a heart that would hold to its own feelings, unswayed by gossip. Following the robe dyed with dayflowers of the preceding poem, 474, it sings of a robe woven on the loom, setting a fading dyed robe beside a white one.
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. The Shūishū includes many Man'yōshū poems under his name.
A similar poem, singing of weaving on a white hemp robe whatever people may say, also appears in the Man'yōshū.
First line, "chichiwaku ni," is taken to mean "this way and that," referring to the many sorts of gossip.
Second line, "hito wa iu tomo," means "even if people talk," with "tomo" a concessive supposition.
Third line, "orite kimu," means "I will weave and wear," with "mu" an auxiliary of intention. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "waga hatamono ni," means "on my loom."
Final line, "shiroki asaginu," means "the white hemp robe," ending on a noun. Against the dyed robe of the preceding poem, it sets a white robe.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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