Tag Archives: Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue

MYS IV: 760

[One of] two poems sent by Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue to her daughter, the Elder Maiden, from her estate at Taketa.

うち渡す武田の原に鳴く鶴の閒なく時なし我が戀ふらくは

utiwatasu
taketa nö para ni
naku tadu nö
ma naku töki nasi
a ga kopuraku pa
Gazing out across
The field at Taketa,
The calling of the cranes
Is constant
As is my love.

MYS VI: 983

山の端のささら愛壯士天の原門渡る光見らくしよしも

yama nö pa nö
sasarae wotoko
ama nö para
towataru pikari
miraku si yösi mo
At the mountain’s edge
A darling boy:
The field of heaven
He wades across, his light
A pleasant sight.

Concerning the above poem, it is said that another name for the moon is ‘darling boy’; she composed the poem based on these words.

MYS III: 380

Envoy:

木綿疊手に取り持ちてかくだにも我れは祈ひなむ君に逢はじかも

yupu tatami
te ni törimotite
kaku dani mo
are pa kopinamu
kimi ni apadi ka mo
The mulberry cloth mat
I grip
And in this way
I pray;
But still I may not meet him.

The above poems, on which she expended little effort, were composed in winter, the Eleventh Month of the 5th year of Tempyō (733), while worshipping the ancestral gods of the Ōtomo clan. For this reason, they are called poems in which she worships the gods.

MYS III: 379

A poem, with tanka, with which Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue worships the gods.

ひさかたの 天の原より 生れ來る 神の命 奧山の 賢木の枝に しらか付く 木綿取り付けて 齋瓮を 齋ひ掘り据ゑ 竹玉を 繁に貫き垂れ 獸じもの 膝折り伏して たわや女の 襲取り懸け かくだにも 我れは祈ひなむ 君に逢はじかも

pisakata nö
ama nö para yori
arekitaru
kamï nö mikötö
okuyama nö
sakakï nö eda ni
siraka tuku
yupu toritukete
ipapipe wo
ipapiporisuwe
takatama wo
sidi ni nukitare
sisidi monö
piza woripusite
tawayame nö
osupi torikake
kaku dani mo
are pa kopinamu
kimi ni apadi ka mo
On eternal
Heaven’s field
Were born
The mighty gods:
From deep within the mountains
Comes the branch of sakaki, sacred tree,
Pure white
Mulberry cloth I tie upon it;
Sacred jars,
I bury in the earth;
Bamboo discs
I string close together, and
As a beast
On bended knee, prostrate myself;
A gentle maiden’s
Stole upon me,
And in this way
Do I pray;
But still I may not meet him.

Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue
大伴坂上郎女