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Kokinshu #727
Saturday, 19 March 2011 09:42 Topic unknown.
Though I'm not a guide
to towns where fisher-folk live,
all he ever seems
to say, resentfully, is
"Won't you show me the inlet?"
ama no sumu
sato no shirube ni
aranaku ni
ura mimu to nomi
hito no iuramu
---L.
Though I'm not a guide
to towns where fisher-folk live,
all he ever seems
to say, resentfully, is
"Won't you show me the inlet?"
—30 December 2010
Original by Ono no Komachi at her snarkiest. Pivot-word: urami = "resent/begrudge/blame" / ura mimu = "would see the inlet". How to understand the double-meaning is another matter: are they both part of what is said or does resentful describe the manner of speaking? Commentaries seem to generally read the latter. While rendering ura as "inlet" instead of "shoreline" might be a touch indecorous, the homonym meaning "backside" would be outright raunchy. The final statement is originally in the positive, but "won't" sounds more natural in English.ama no sumu
sato no shirube ni
aranaku ni
ura mimu to nomi
hito no iuramu
---L.