ちはやぶる賀茂の川波幾そ度
立ち返るらむ限り知らずも
立ち返るらむ限り知らずも
- Roma-ji
-
Chihayaburu Kamo no kawanami ikuso tabi tachikaeruramu kagiri shirazu mo
- English Translation
-
Mighty gods' Kamo—
like the waves upon its river,
how many times
do they come back again?
There is no end to them.
- Meaning
- Like the waves on the Kamo River of the mighty gods, how many times does my longing come rushing back? There is no end to it.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 482
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of love at famous places"
As the waves of the sacred Kamo River return again and again, so the poet's longing revives time after time, with no end he can see.
Line 1, chihayaburu, is a pillow word for divine things, here suggesting the Kamo shrines and modifying Kamo.
Line 2 names the waves of the Kamo River in Yamashiro.
Line 3 means "how many times."
Line 4 overlays the waves returning and longing reviving; ramu is present conjecture, and the poem pauses here.
Line 5 means "knowing no end," mo exclamatory. After the unceasing longing of the preceding poem, it sings of feeling that never runs out.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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