Imoyama no iwane ni okeru ware o kamo shirazute imo ga machitsutsu aran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

妹山の岩根に置ける我をかも
知らずて妹が待ちつつあらん

Roma-ji: Imoyama no iwane ni okeru ware o kamo shirazute imo ga machitsutsu aran
English Translation: On Imoyama,
laid among the roots of rock,
is it that my love,
not knowing I lie here,
waits on for me still at home?
Meaning: Not knowing that I lie here among the roots of the rocks on Mount Imo, is my wife still waiting and waiting for me?
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1321

Headnote: "When he was in Iwami and about to die"
The poet wonders whether his wife, not knowing that he lies among the rocks on Mount Imo, is still waiting for him. The headnote shows it was composed in Iwami when he was about to die. Thinking less of himself, facing death far from home, than of his wife waiting at home not knowing, it has been handed down as Hitomaro's death poem. Here the poet himself takes the place of the dead man lying with the rough shore for a pillow whom he saw in 1316 in this book.
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 the poem Hitomaro composed when facing death in Iwami, with the first line "Kamoyama no."

First line, "Imoyama no," means "of Mount Imo," repeating the word "imo" found in the fourth line.
Second line, "iwane ni okeru," means "lying among the roots of the rocks," with "ru" the attributive form of the auxiliary "ri" of continuing state.
Third line, "ware o kamo," means "me," with the binding particle "kamo" expressing a question resolved by the attributive "aran" in the final line.
Fourth line, "shirazute imo ga," means "my wife, not knowing."
Final line, "machitsutsu aran," means "is she waiting still," with "tsutsu" continuation and "n" conjectural.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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