神垣は木の丸殿にあらねども
名のりをせねば人とがめけり
名のりをせねば人とがめけり
- Roma-ji
-
Kamigaki wa ki no marodono ni aranedomo nanori o seneba hito togamekeri
- English Translation
-
The shrine's sacred fence
is not the Log Palace, yet
since I gave no name
as I passed along the way,
someone called out and stopped me
- Meaning
- This shrine fence is no Log Palace, yet because I did not announce my name, someone stopped and questioned me.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 547
Though the shrine precincts are not the Log Palace, where one must announce one's name to pass, the poet says, he was stopped and questioned because he did not give his name. It seems to playfully recount an incident on a shrine visit, when the shrine's people challenged him for not naming himself, through an allusion to Emperor Tenji.
It draws on the poem attributed to Emperor Tenji, which asks whose child goes by announcing his name while the emperor stays in the Log Palace at Asakura. The Log Palace was a temporary palace of rough-hewn logs that Emperor Tenji set up at Asakura in Chikuzen, and those passing before it are said to have announced their names. The first word, kamigaki, is the same as in poem 516, the opening poem of this book, and the next poem, 548.
First line, 'kamigaki wa', means the shrine fence. Poem 516, the opening poem, and the next poem, 548, also begin with kamigaki.
Second line, 'ki no marodono ni', means the palace of rough logs, the temporary palace Emperor Tenji set up at Asakura in Chikuzen.
Third line, 'aranedomo', means though it is not, the realis of the negative zu followed by the concessive domo.
Fourth line, 'nanori o seneba', means since I did not give my name, drawing on nanori o shitsutsu in Emperor Tenji's poem.
Final line, 'hito togamekeri', means someone challenged me, closing with the exclamatory keri.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ama no gawa kore ya nagare no sue naramu sora yori otsuru Nunobiki no taki
- Next Poem
-
Kamigaki no atari to omou ni yūdasuki omoi mo kakenu kane no koe kana