天雲の八重雲隠れ鳴る神の
音にのみやは聞きわたるべき
音にのみやは聞きわたるべき
- Roma-ji
-
Amagumo no yaegumogakure narukami no oto ni nomi ya wa kikiwataru beki
- English Translation
-
Like the thunder god
hidden in the clouds of heaven
layered eightfold deep,
must I only hear your sound,
hearing only, all my days?
- Meaning
- Like thunder rumbling hidden behind the many-layered clouds of heaven, must I go on only hearing of you by rumor?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 628
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks whether the poet must go on only hearing of the beloved by rumor, like thunder rumbling hidden behind heaven's many-layered clouds. With the upper verse as a preface, it likens a beloved one cannot meet, known only by rumor, to thunder that sounds but never shows itself. Taking up "oto ni kiku" of the preceding poem, 627, it sings of the frustration of a love known only by rumor. A poem of nearly the same import appears in Book Eleven of the Man'yōshū.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet who served in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, he is revered as the Saint of Poetry.
First line, "amagumo no," means "of the clouds of heaven."
Second line, "yaegumogakure," means "hidden in clouds layered many times over."
Third line, "narukami no," means "of the thunder," and up to here the lines form a preface leading to "oto," sound, in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "oto ni nomi ya wa," means "only by its sound," with the binding particle "ya wa" rhetorical and resolved by "beki" in the final line. It uses the same word "oto" as the first line of the preceding poem, 627, "oto ni kiku."
Final line, "kikiwataru beki," means "must I go on hearing? surely not," with "wataru" adding the sense of continuing.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Oto ni kiku hito ni kokoro o Tsukubane no minedo koishiki kimi ni mo aru kana
- Next Poem
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Minu hito no koishiki ya nazo obotsukana tare to ka shiramu yume ni miyu tomo