こゆるぎのいそぎて逢ひしかひもなく
波より越すと聞くはまことか
波より越すと聞くはまことか
- Roma-ji
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Koyurugi no isogite aishi kai mo naku nami yori kosu to kiku wa makoto ka
- English Translation
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Like Koyurugi's shore
I hurried here to meet you,
yet no shell, no worth,
I hear the waves have crossed over,
tell me, can it be the truth
- Meaning
- Is it true, as I hear, that all my haste to meet you came to nothing, and that your heart has changed, as waves sweep over the pine hill?
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 600
Has the haste to meet the other all been for nothing, the poet asks; is it true, as rumor says, that the other's heart has changed as waves cross over the pine hill? Having hurried to a meeting, the poet hears that the other has had a change of heart and demands whether it is so.
Nami kosu, waves crossing over, draws on the eastern song in the Kokin Wakashū that says if the singer ever turns faithless, waves will cross the Sue no Matsuyama, and expresses a change of heart.
First line, 'koyurugi no', is a pillow word for iso, from Koyurugi no iso, a famous shore in Sagami.
Second line, 'isogite aishi', means that I hurried to meet, isogi echoing iso, the shore of Koyurugi in the first line.
Third line, 'kai mo naku', is a pivot in which kai means both worth and a shell, left in kana. It is a related word to iso in the first line.
Fourth line, 'nami yori kosu to', means as the waves cross, overlaying the waves crossing the Sue no Matsuyama with a change of heart. Nami is a related word to iso in the first line.
Final line, 'kiku wa makoto ka', means is what I hear true, closing with the particle ka in a question to the other.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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