いとせめて恋しき時は播磨なる
飾磨に染むるかちよりぞ来る
飾磨に染むるかちよりぞ来る
- Roma-ji
-
Ito semete koishiki toki wa Harima naru Shikama ni somuru kachi yori zo kuru
- English Translation
-
When with all my heart
I long for you so deeply,
like the Harima
Shikama dye of deep blue,
on foot it is that I come
- Meaning
- When I long for you with all my heart, I come on foot, as the name of the deep blue cloth dyed at Shikama in Harima suggests.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Variant Poems 717
When longing becomes unbearable, the poet comes on foot without waiting for any conveyance, as the name kachi, the deep blue dyed at Shikama in Harima, suggests. Joining kachi, the deep blue for which the dyeing of Shikama was known, with kachi, on foot, the poem expresses the ardor of one who would walk to meet the beloved out of longing.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant it is one of the love poems placed after 665 in Book Ten, the closing poem of the anthology, and it is the last poem of this book. The preceding poem, 716, is also a love poem drawing on dyeing.
First line, 'ito semete', means with desperate longing.
Second line, 'koishiki toki wa', means when I long for you.
Third line, 'Harima naru', means in Harima, modifying Shikama in the fourth line.
Fourth line, 'Shikama ni somuru', means dyed at Shikama; with the third line it forms a preface leading to kachi in the final line. Like namida ni somaru in the fourth line of 716 in this book, it sings of dyeing.
Final line, 'kachi yori zo kuru', means I come on foot, joining kachi, deep blue cloth, with kachi, walking. The particle zo is answered by the attributive kuru.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aku to iu koto mo shirabaya kurenai no namida ni somaru sode ya kaeru to