#011 わたの原

わたの原
八十島かけて
こぎ出ぬと
人には告げよ
あまのつり舟

wata no hara yasoshima kakete kogi idenu to hito ni wa tsugeyo ama no tsuri fune

Ono no Takamura

version 1 Upon the wide sea toward the Eighty Islands I'm being rowed out: Go tell it to the people O, fisherman's fishing boat! version 2 "Upon the wide sea between our many islands I am rowed away!" Declare it to everyone, fishing boats of fisher-folks. (trans. Köy Deli)

version 1 on fields of the sea I've been rowed out toward Eighty Islands tell all the women divers here comes my boat version 2 on fields of the sea I've been rowed out toward Eighty Islands fishermen on the boats tell this to all the people (trans. Jane Reichhold)

Notes:

Background

Said to have been composed by Takamura after being exiled to Oki.

Devices

Personification (of the fishing boat); we may read into his asking the impossible (for fishing boats to tell of his situation), a declaration of helplessness.

Parsing

wata no hara
sea | of | field/plain
yaso shima kakete
eighty | island | toward
kogi idenu to
rowed | out-have-been | "quote"
hito ni wa tsugeyo
people | to the / in regards to / as for | inform
ama no tsuri fune
fisherman | of | fishing-boat

wata	わた	sea; beach		11
no	の	Genitive particle
hara	原	meadow; original; primitive; field; plain; prairie; tundra; wilderness		11
yaso	八十	eighty (8, 10);	used figuratively of ‘many’	11
shima	島	island		11
kakete	かけて	over; toward		11
kogi	こぎ	row (-ed)		11
idenu	出ぬ	out-have-been		11
to	と	Quotative particle; also noun 'City'
hito	人	person; people (s/he; him; her; them)		11
ni	に	Locative particle (at, to, in)
wa	は	Topic marker (is, are, the)
tsugeyo	告げよ	Tell; inform; announce; proclaim	Imperitive of tsugeru告げる [つげる]	11
ama	あま	(1) ( 海人, 海士) male diver, fisherman/folk (2) (海女)  woman shell diver		11
tsuri	つり	fishing		11
fune	舟	Boat		11