わが恋は吉野の山の奥なれや
おもひいれども逢ふ人もなし
おもひいれども逢ふ人もなし
- Roma-ji
-
Waga koi wa Yoshino no yama no oku nare ya omoiiredomo au hito mo nashi
- English Translation
-
Is this love of mine
the deep recess of the hills
of Yoshino then?
However far in my heart goes,
there is no one there to meet
- Meaning
- Is my love the depths of the Yoshino mountains? However deeply my thoughts go into it, I meet no one there.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Love Poems I 212
The poet likens a love that cannot meet its object, however intensely felt, to the depths of Mount Yoshino, where one may walk in and never meet a soul. Yoshino was a poetic place associated with remote seclusion, and its depth is overlaid on the depth and loneliness of love.
The first line, "waga koi wa" (my love), sets the speaker's love as the topic. It is the same first line as poem 193 of this book, contrasting a love consoled in dreams with a love that meets no one in the mountain depths.
The second line, "Yoshino no yama no," names a poetic place in Yamato Province, sung of as a remote land for retreat from the world.
The third line, "oku nare ya," is a question formed with "ya" after the perfective form: is it because it is the depths? A break falls after the third line.
The fourth line, "omoiiredomo," is a pivot word joining "omoiiru" (to dwell deeply in thought) and entering deep into the mountains.
The final line, "au hito mo nashi" (no one to meet), overlays meeting no one in the hills with being unable to meet the beloved.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Akisue
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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