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Kokinshu #477
Wednesday, 4 December 2013 07:10 Reply.
Knowing, not knowing --
why do you uselessly speak
of distinguishing this?
It is love, and only love,
that can act as your guide.
(One of these days I'll have to decide whether, when romanizing, to always treat the inflection of a nari-adjective as a suffix or, as for their modern Japanese descendents, a separate particle. For, yanno, consistancy's sake.)
shiru shiranu
nani ka aya naku
wakite iwamu
omoi nomi koso
shirube narikere
---L.
Knowing, not knowing --
why do you uselessly speak
of distinguishing this?
It is love, and only love,
that can act as your guide.
—25 November 2013
Original by an unknown woman. So decoding the poetic persiflage, Narihira essentially asked, "Will I be able see you?" and she replied, "Why worry about seeing? If you really love me, you'd find a way for us to meet!" This is about as direct a come-on as you'll find in classical Japanese. Some commentaries claim that the hi, "fire," of omo(h)i, "feelings" here rendered as "love," suggests a torch lighting the way -- and maybe it would to someone steeped in the tradition of the time.(One of these days I'll have to decide whether, when romanizing, to always treat the inflection of a nari-adjective as a suffix or, as for their modern Japanese descendents, a separate particle. For, yanno, consistancy's sake.)
shiru shiranu
nani ka aya naku
wakite iwamu
omoi nomi koso
shirube narikere
---L.