墨染の衣と見ればよそながら
もろともに着る色にぞありける
もろともに着る色にぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Sumizome no koromo to mireba yoso nagara morotomo ni kiru iro ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
When I see it as
a robe dyed the black of ink,
though we are apart,
it is a color that we
are wearing, the two of us.
- Meaning
- When I see it as a robe of ink-black, I find it is a color we both wear, though we are far apart.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Lament Poems 1334
Headnote: "Reply"
The poet says that seen as an ink-black robe, it is a color the two of them wear together, though apart. It is the reply of the woman who became a nun to the preceding poem, 1333, by Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. Though for different reasons, they both wear the same ink-black, he in mourning and she in a nun's robe, and in this she finds a bond by which their hearts touch even far apart.
First line, "sumizome no," means "ink-dyed black," taking up the first line of the preceding poem, 1333.
Second line, "koromo to mireba," means "when I see it as a robe," with "ba" after the perfective form expressing a condition.
Third line, "yoso nagara," means "though apart."
Fourth line, "morotomo ni kiru," means "that we wear together," her nun's robe and Yoshinobu's mourning dress.
Final line, "iro ni zo arikeru," means "is the color, I find," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "keru," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "keri." Against "iro wa ware nomi to" in the second line of the preceding poem, 1333, she answers that it is a color they both wear.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Sumizome no iro wa ware nomi to omoishi o ukiyo o somuku hito mo aru to ka
- Next Poem
-
Omoishiru hito mo arikeru yo no naka o itsu o itsu tote sugusu naruran