玉鉾の道は遠くもあらなくに
旅と思へばわびしかりけり
旅と思へばわびしかりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Tamaboko no michi wa tōku mo aranaku ni tabi to omoeba wabishikarikeri
- English Translation
-
Though the jewel-spear road
that I travel is not long
nor far away,
when I think it is a journey
how forlorn I come to feel.
- Meaning
- The road is not so very long, and yet when I think of it as a journey, how lonely and forlorn I feel.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 562
Headnote: "On the heart of travel"
Though the road is not far, the poet feels forlorn merely because he knows he is on a journey. It is not distance but the sense of being away from home that brings the loneliness of travel. The poem opens the miscellaneous section of Minamoto no Sanetomo's Kinkai Wakashū.
The Ruijū text places this poem in its travel section.
Line 1, tamaboko no, is a pillow word for "road." The miscellaneous section opens with travel and closes with 716, a prayer to the dragon kings for the suffering people, moving from one traveller's heart to the prayer of a ruler.
Line 2 means "the road, far."
Line 3 means "is not, and yet," naku ni being a nominalized negative with adversative force.
Line 4 means "when I think it a journey," pointing to the state of the heart rather than the miles.
Line 5 means "how forlorn it is," keri expressing realization.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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