石見なる高間の山の木の間より
我が振る袖を妹見けんかも
我が振る袖を妹見けんかも
- Roma-ji
-
Iwami naru Takama no yama no ko no ma yori waga furu sode o imo miken kamo
- English Translation
-
From between the trees
on Mount Takama, there
in the land of Iwami,
did my beloved see, I wonder,
the sleeve I waved to her?
- Meaning
- I wonder if my beloved saw me waving my sleeve from between the trees on Mount Takama in Iwami.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Love Poems 1239
Headnote: "When a woman who had been living in Iwami came up to the capital"
The poet wonders whether his beloved saw the sleeve he waved from between the trees on Mount Takama in Iwami. The headnote shows it was composed when a woman who had been in Iwami Province came up to the capital. Thinking of whether she saw the sleeve he waved from among the trees at their parting, he sings of his love for a wife living apart.
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. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
A similar poem appears in Book Two of the Man'yōshū as Hitomaro's poem on parting from his wife to come up from Iwami, with the first two lines "Iwami no ya Takatsuno yama no."
First line, "Iwami naru," means "that is in Iwami," with "naru" expressing location.
Second line, "Takama no yama no," means "of Mount Takama" in Iwami.
Third line, "ko no ma yori," means "from between the trees."
Fourth line, "waga furu sode o," means "the sleeve I wave," waving the sleeve being a gesture of sorrow at parting and of conveying love.
Final line, "imo miken kamo," means "did my beloved see it, I wonder," with "ken" an auxiliary of past conjecture and "kamo" expressing question and exclamation.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Yo no naka wa isa tomo isa ya kaze no oto wa aki ni aki sou kokochi koso sure
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Okitsu nami Takashi no hama no hamamatsu no na ni koso kimi o machiwataritsure