逢ふことはまばらに編める伊予簾
いよいよ我をわびさするかな
いよいよ我をわびさするかな
- Roma-ji
-
Au koto wa mabara ni ameru Iyosudare iyoiyo ware o wabisasuru kana
- English Translation
-
Our meetings are few
as the gaps in a blind
woven loose in Iyo,
and ever more, ever more,
I am left to pine and grieve
- Meaning
- Our meetings are as sparse as the weave of an Iyo blind, and more and more they leave me to grieve.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 244
The poet likens infrequent meetings to the loose weave of a blind from Iyo. Repeating the sound of "Iyo" in "iyoiyo" (more and more), the poem flows with a pleasing rhythm as it voices a grief that grows with each day apart.
The first line, "au koto wa" (our meetings), sets them as the topic with "wa."
The second line, "mabara ni ameru," uses the attributive of the continuative "ri" to describe a loose weave, likening it to infrequent meetings.
The third line, "Iyosudare," names a blind woven of bamboo from Iyo Province; the first three lines form a preface leading to the like-sounding "iyoiyo."
The fourth line, "iyoiyo ware o" (ever more, me), is drawn out by the sound of "Iyo" and means more and more.
The final line, "wabisasuru kana," combines the attributive causative "sasu" with the exclamatory "kana," lamenting that it makes him suffer.
- Author
- Egyō
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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