東路のみちのおくなる白河の
せきあへぬ袖をもる涙かな
せきあへぬ袖をもる涙かな
- Roma-ji
-
Azumaji no michinooku naru Shirakawa no sekiaenu sode o moru namida kana
- English Translation
-
On the Eastern Road,
far along the way to Michinoku,
like Shirakawa's barrier,
my sleeves cannot hold back
the tears that spill through them.
- Meaning
- Like the barrier at Shirakawa, far along the Eastern Road in Michinoku, my sleeves cannot hold back the tears that spill through them.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 471
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of love at famous places"
Borrowing the name of the Shirakawa barrier in distant Michinoku along the Eastern Road, the poet sings of tears overflowing sleeves that cannot hold them back, as a barrier fails to stem the flow.
According to the notes in the base text, the Ruijū and Teika texts differ in line 1. Here the base text is followed.
Line 1 means "of the Eastern Road."
Line 2 plays on michi no oku, "the far end of the road" and the province of Michinoku.
Line 3 names the Shirakawa barrier, a poetic place in Michinoku, leading to seki.
Line 4 means "sleeves that cannot dam," seki being both barrier and damming.
Line 5: moru suggests both tears leaking and guarding a barrier; kana is exclamatory. After the robe two poems earlier, here sleeves are wet with tears.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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