思ひかね今日立てそむる錦木の
千束も待たで逢ふよしもがな
千束も待たで逢ふよしもがな
- Roma-ji
-
Omoikane kyō tatesomuru nishikigi no chitsuka mo matade au yoshi mo gana
- English Translation
-
Unable to bear it,
today I first set up here
the bright nishikigi —
might there be a way to meet
before a thousand stand
- Meaning
- Unable to bear my longing, today I set up the first painted wand of nishikigi at your gate; if only there were a way to meet you before a thousand of them stand there.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Love Poems I 190
The poem draws on a custom of Michinoku: a suitor set up a painted wand called nishikigi at the gate of the woman he loved, and if she accepted him she took it in; if not, he kept setting them up until there were a thousand. On the very day he first sets one up, unable to restrain himself, the poet wishes to meet her without waiting for the thousandth, capturing the impatience of love's beginning.
The first line, "omoikane" (unable to bear my longing), shows love finally spilling over into action.
The second line, "kyō tatesomuru" (today first set up), uses "somu" to mark the start of an action. Poem 214 of this book sings of still setting up nishikigi after a thousand have rotted away, treating the same custom on another scale, from love's first day to the end of long years.
The third line, "nishikigi no," names the colored wooden wands used in the marriage custom of Michinoku.
The fourth line, "chitsuka mo matade" (not waiting for a thousand), refers to the practice of setting up wands until they numbered a thousand.
The final line, "au yoshi mo gana," ends with the wishful "mo gana": if only there were a way to meet.
- Author
- Oe no Masafusa
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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