MYS II: 220

A poem composed by Lord Kakinomoto no Hitomaro on seeing a dead man among the rocks of Samine Island in Sanuki Province.

玉藻よし 讚岐の國は 國柄か 見れども飽かぬ 神柄か ここだ貴き 天地 日月とともに 滿りゆかむ 神の御面と 繼ぎて來る 中の水門ゆ 船浮けて わが漕ぎ來れば 時つ風 雲居に吹くに 沖見れば とゐ波立ち 邊見れば 白波さわく 鯨魚取り 海を恐み 行く船の 梶引き折りて をちこちの 島は多けど 名くはし 狹岑の島の 荒磯面に いほりて見れば 波の音の 繁き濱べを 敷たへの 枕になして 荒床に 自伏す君が 家知らば 行きても告けむ 妻知らば 來も問はましを 玉桙の 道だに知らず おぼぼしく 待ちか戀ふらむ 愛しき妻らは

tamamo yosi
sanuki nö kuni pa
kunikara ka
miredömo akanu
kamukara ka
kököda taputoki
amëtuti
pitukï tö tömo ni
tariyukamu
kamï nö miomo tö
tugitekuru
naka nö minato yu
pune ukete
wa ga kögikureba
töki tu kaze
kumowi ni saku ni
oki mireba
töwinami tati
pe mireba
siranami sawaku
izana töri
umi wo kasikomi
yuku pune nö
kadi pikiworite
wotiköti nö
sima pa opokedö
na kupasi
samine nö sima nö
arisomo ni
iporite mireba
nami nö to nö
sigeki pamabe wo
sikitapë nö
makura ni nasite
aradökö ni
koropusu kimi ga
ipe siraba
yukitemo tukemu
tuma siraba
ki mo topamasi wo
tamapokö nö
miti dani sirazu
obobosiku
mati ka kopuramu
pasiku tumara pa
Jewelled seaweed,
Province of Sanuki:
Is it your nature that
The sight of you will never sate?
Is it that your guardian god
Is paramount?
With heaven and earth,
And sun and moon,
May you endure.
Toward one divine face,
We continue on our journey,
Out the rivermouth at Naka,
Floating in our boat.
As we come rowing,
The seasonal wind
Blows from the distant sky;
From offshore, I see
The crashing breakers;
I see the coast,
Among the roaring white caps;
Hunting whales
The sea, I fear it.
Our bobbing boat,
Warps its oars.
All around
There are many islands, yet
On the famous
Isle of Samine,
On the rocky, wave-wracked sea coast
We make landfall and see
Among the waves’ sound
Ever on the seashore,
A folded mulberry-cloth
Pillow have you made,
On a rough and rocky bed
You lay down:
If I knew your home
I would go and tell them;
If your wife knew
She would come inquiring;
Jeweled spear straight
Your path, though she knows it not;
Worriedly,
Is she waiting, loving you
That darling wife of yours

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *