Waga seko o kimase no yama to hito wa iedo kimi mo kimasanu yama no na narashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が背子をきませの山と人は言へど
君も来まさぬ山の名ならし

Roma-ji: Waga seko o kimase no yama to hito wa iedo kimi mo kimasanu yama no na narashi
English Translation: Though people call it
the mountain of "Come to me,
my husband, come," still
you do not come, so it seems
the mountain's name is all it is.
Meaning: People call it the mountain of "Come to me, my husband," but since you do not come, it seems it is a mountain only in name.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 818

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that people call it the mountain whose name means "come to me," yet since the beloved does not come, it seems a mountain only in name. Reading "kimase," please come, into the mountain's name, it wittily voices resentment toward a husband who, unlike the name, does not visit.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a court poet of the Asuka period revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Many Man'yōshū poems are included in the Shūishū under Hitomaro's name.

First line, "waga seko o," means "my husband." It is the same line as the first line of the next poem, 819, so the two stand side by side.
Second line, "kimase no yama to," is a pivot word: "kimase" calls to a husband "please come" and is also the mountain's name.
Third line, "hito wa iedo," means "though people say," a line with an extra syllable.
Fourth line, "kimi mo kimasanu," means "you too do not come." Repeating "kimase" of the second line in negative form, it shows the gap between name and reality.
Final line, "yama no na narashi," means "it seems only the mountain's name," with "narashi" a contraction of "naru rashi" expressing inference. The next poem, 819, weaves in the same sound "narashi" as a place name.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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