かくとだにまだいはしろの結び松
むすぼほれたる我が心かな
むすぼほれたる我が心かな
- Roma-ji
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Kaku to dani mada iwashiro no musubimatsu musubohoretaru waga kokoro kana
- English Translation
-
That it is so,
I have not yet said, like the pine
knotted at Iwashiro,
all tied up within itself
is this heart of mine
- Meaning
- I have not yet said even this much of my love; like the knotted pine of Iwashiro, my heart is tied up and cannot come undone.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Love Poems I 378
The poet has not yet been able to say even that he is in love, and like the knotted pine of Iwashiro his heart is tied up and will not clear. The pain of a love he cannot speak is likened to a pine with its branches knotted together.
Some manuscripts name Minamoto no Akikuni as the author.
The knotted pine of Iwashiro is an old poetic place; the Man'yōshū has a poem by Prince Arima, who tied its branches together to pray for his safety.
First line, 'kaku to dani', means even this much, referring to his love.
Second line, 'mada iwashiro no', is a pivot word in which iwa means both iwa(zu), not yet saying, and Iwashiro, a poetic place in Kii, left in kana.
Third line, 'musubimatsu', is a pine whose branches are tied together with a wish. The first three lines form a preface leading to musubohoru in the fourth line.
Fourth line, 'musubohoretaru', means knotted and unable to loosen, a heart weighed down and gloomy. It repeats the sound of musubi in the third line.
Final line, 'waga kokoro kana', means such is my heart, with the exclamatory particle kana.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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