み熊野に駒のつまづく青つづら
君こそ我がほだしなりけれ
君こそ我がほだしなりけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Mikumano ni koma no tsumazuku aotsuzura kimi koso waga hodashi narikere
- English Translation
-
Like the green vines
in the mountains of Kumano
that trip the horse's feet,
you, and only you, I find,
are the fetters that bind me
- Meaning
- Like the green vines of Kumano that trip a horse's hooves, it is you, I find, who are the fetter that holds me fast.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 493
Like the green vines on the mountain paths of Kumano that tangle a horse's legs and make it stumble, the poet says, it is the beloved who binds him and will not let him go free. Through the vines of the mountain path, the poem conveys the bondage of a love one cannot leave however one tries.
First line, 'Mikumano ni', means in Kumano, mi being an honorific prefix. The upper three lines form a preface leading to hodashi.
Second line, 'koma no tsumazuku', means where the horse stumbles.
Third line, 'aotsuzura', is a long-vined plant of the hills and fields, sung as something that tangles a horse's legs.
Fourth line, 'kimi koso waga', means it is you who are my, the particle koso answered by kere in the final line.
Final line, 'hodashi narikere', means are my fetters, hodashi being a rope that ties a horse's legs and by extension anything that binds a person. It closes with kere, the perfective form of the exclamatory keri, in answer to koso in the fourth line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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