み熊野の浦の浜木綿百重なる
心は思へど直に逢はぬかも
心は思へど直に逢はぬかも
- Roma-ji
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Mikumano no ura no hamayū momoe naru kokoro wa omoedo tada ni awanu kamo
- English Translation
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On Kumano's shore
the crinum lilies grow,
layered hundredfold;
so my heart thinks of you, yet
face to face we never meet.
- Meaning
- Like the crinum lilies of the Kumano shore, their leaves layered a hundredfold, my heart thinks of you a hundredfold, yet I cannot meet you face to face.
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Love Poems I 668
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that like the crinum lilies of the Kumano shore, whose leaves are layered a hundredfold, the poet's heart thinks of the beloved a hundredfold, yet he cannot meet her face to face. With the upper verse as a preface, it likens love's piling thoughts to the many-layered leaves of the crinum. Following the two preceding poems, it uses seaside imagery. It appears in Book Four of the Man'yōshū as a poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, with a slight difference in the third line.
The author, written as "Kakinomoto no Hitomaro" in an older spelling, 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, "Mikumano no," means "of Kumano," with "mi" a word of praise. Kumano is a place in Kii Province.
Second line, "ura no hamayū," means "the crinum lilies of the shore."
Third line, "momoe naru," means "layered a hundredfold," and up to here the lines form a preface leading to the heaped thoughts of the heart in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "kokoro wa omoedo," means "though my heart thinks of you," with "do" concessive.
Final line, "tada ni awanu kamo," means "yet we cannot meet face to face," with "kamo" exclamatory.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Mirume karu ama to wa nashi ni kimi kouru waga koromode no kawaku toki naki
- Next Poem
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Asana asana kezureba tsumoru ochigami no midarete mono o omou koro kana