旅衣涙の色のしるければ
露にもえこそかこたざりけり
露にもえこそかこたざりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Tabigoromo namida no iro no shirukereba tsuyu ni mo e koso kakotazarikeri
- English Translation
-
On my traveling robe
the color of my tears
shows so plainly that
not even on the dew
could I lay the blame
- Meaning
- So plainly does the crimson of my tears show on my traveling robe that I could not even pretend it was wet with dew.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 791
Headnote: "Composed on the heart of love on a journey"
Composed on the topic "love on a journey." Since the color of tears shows so plainly on my traveling robe, he says, I could not even blame it on the dew. A wet traveling robe might be excused as damp from the dew of the fields, but the tears of blood shed in love's grief stain it crimson and cannot pass for dew, and through this conceit he conveys a love that cannot be hidden even on the road.
The author, "Kakuga, Bishop," was a son of Minister of the Right Minamoto no Akifusa and a monk who rose to Provisional Junior Bishop.
First line, "tabigoromo": a traveling robe, giving the "journey" of the topic.
Second line, "namida no iro no": "the color of tears," the crimson of tears of blood shed in excess of grief.
Third line, "shirukereba": "shirushi" means plain to see, and "ba" gives a fixed condition, "since the color shows so plainly."
Fourth line, "tsuyu ni mo e koso": "e" with a following negative expresses impossibility, and "koso" is emphatic, "not even to the dew" could he lay the blame for his wet robe.
Fifth line, "kakotazarikeri": "kakotsu" is to blame on something else, "zari" the continuative of the negative "zu," and "keri" expresses realization. The conclusion of "koso" in the fourth line would normally be the realized form "kere," but the text reads "keri."
- Author
- Kakuga
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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