石上ふるとも雨にさはらめや
逢はむと妹に言ひてしものを
逢はむと妹に言ひてしものを
- Roma-ji
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Isonokami furu tomo ame ni sawarame ya awamu to imo ni iiteshi mono o
- English Translation
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Isonokami:
though the rain should fall like Furu,
would rain hold me back?
For I told her, my beloved,
that I would come to meet her.
- Meaning
- Even if the rain should fall, would the rain keep me away? For I have told my beloved that I will come to meet her.
- Commentary
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Book Twelve Love Poems II 765
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that even if rain falls, the rain will not keep the poet away, for he has promised his beloved that he will come. With Furu, a place at Isonokami, leading to "furu," for rain to fall, it expresses a single-minded heart resolved to keep its promise and go to meet her even in the rain. It appears in Book Four of the Man'yōshū as a poem by Ōtomo no Katami.
The author, written as "Ōtomo no Katami" with different characters, is taken to be Ōtomo no Katami, an official of the Nara period whose poems appear in the Man'yōshū.
First line, "Isonokami," is a place name in Yamato and a pillow word that, through Furu located there, modifies "furu" of the same sound in the second line.
Second line, "furu tomo ame ni," is a pivot word: "furu" means the place name Furu and rain "falling," giving "even if rain falls, by the rain."
Third line, "sawarame ya," means "would I be held back? no," with "me" the perfective form of the conjectural "mu" and "ya" rhetorical. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "awamu to imo ni," means "to my beloved, that I would meet her." It shares "awamu" with the final line of the next poem, 766, "awamu to zo omou."
Final line, "iiteshi mono o," means "for I have told her," with "te" perfective, "shi" past, and "mono o" giving a reason tinged with feeling.
- Author
- Ōtomo no Katami
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Hitome o mo tsutsumanu mono to omoiseba sode no namida no kakaramashi ya wa
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Wabinureba ima hata onaji Naniwa naru miotsukushi te mo awamu to zo omou