知られても厭はれぬべき身ならずは
名をさへ人に包むべしやは
名をさへ人に包むべしやは
- Roma-ji
-
Shiraretemo itowarenubeki mi narazu wa na o sae hito ni tsutsumubeshi ya wa
- English Translation
-
Even if it's known,
if I am not one who'd be
loathed by her for it,
should I hide from her as well
even my own name? Surely not
- Meaning
- If I am not one who would be loathed once she knew, why should I hide from her even my name?
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 826
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic 'Love told as another's'"
Composed, like the preceding poem, on the topic "love told as another's." If I am not one who would be loathed once known, he says, why should I hide even my name from her? He has revealed his love under cover of someone else, but if he is not one to be loathed, there is no need to hide even his name as well as his love, and he expresses through a rhetorical question his resolve to come forward.
The author, "Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards Yoshitsune," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. The son of Regent Fujiwara no Kanezane, he was Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards when this anthology was compiled. He later rose to Regent and Grand Chancellor and wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokin Wakashū. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The preceding poem was composed on the same topic by his elder brother Fujiwara no Yoshimichi. Against its hesitation over whether to give his name, this one declares that the name should not be hidden, so that hesitation and resolve form a pair.
First line, "shiraretemo": "even if it were known" that it is I.
Second line, "itowarenubeki": "nu" is perfective and "beki" the attributive of the conjectural "beshi," "likely to be loathed."
Third line, "mi narazu wa": "zu wa" expresses a condition, "if I am not such a one."
Fourth line, "na o sae hito ni": "sae" is additive, "even my name," not only my love. Like "ima wa ware to ya" in the second line of the preceding poem, it sings of giving one's name.
Fifth line, "tsutsumubeshi ya wa": "tsutsumu" is to hide, and "ya wa" a rhetorical final particle, "should I hide it? Surely not."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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