あしひきの山のまにまに倒れたる
からきはひとり臥せるなりけり
からきはひとり臥せるなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Ashihiki no yama no manimani taoretaru karaki wa hitori fuseru narikeri
- English Translation
-
Here and there across
the foot-wearying mountains
they lie fallen down;
the withered trees, how bitter,
lie there, each one alone
- Meaning
- The withered trees fallen here and there across the mountains lie each alone; how bitter it is to lie alone like them.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 492
The withered trees fallen here and there across the mountains, the poet says, lie each one alone. Punning on karaki, a withered tree and bitter, the poem overlays on the dead trees lying in the mountains the bitterness of sleeping alone, unable to meet the beloved.
First line, 'ashihiki no', is a pillow word for yama, mountain.
Second line, 'yama no manimani', means here and there across the mountains.
Third line, 'taoretaru', means lying fallen, using the attributive of the stative tari.
Fourth line, 'karaki wa hitori', seems to be a pivot word in which karaki means both a withered tree and bitter, left in kana.
Final line, 'fuseru narikeri', means they lie, I find, the attributive ru of the stative ri followed by the assertive nari and the exclamatory keri, expressing a realization about one who sleeps alone.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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