Spin & Discover Kakekotoba!
Poem 25: Minister of the Right of Sanjō
Try to find the kakekotoba hidden in the poem and tap it.
The word you tap will spin right where it is, revealing its two meanings in turn.
名にし負はば
逢坂山の
さねかづら
人にしられで
くるよしもがな
Commentary
This poem has three kakekotoba hidden within it.
A kakekotoba layers two meanings onto a single word that sounds the same either way.
The first is "Ōsaka." It carries both the place name "逢坂" (Ōsaka) and "逢う" (to meet).
The second is "sanekazura." It carries both the name of a vine plant, "sanekazura," and "さ寝" (to sleep together).
The third is "kuru." It carries both "来る" (to come) and "繰る" (to reel in).
Like the sanekazura vine growing on Mount Ōsaka, if only there were some way for you to reel me in and come to me without anyone knowing — this aching love is expressed by layering all three kakekotoba together.
Packing so many meanings into just thirty-one syllables is exactly what makes kakekotoba so appealing.
Vocabulary
A 325-meter mountain on the border of Kyoto City and Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture.
A checkpoint once stood here, at this important crossroads.
To meet someone.
To sleep together.
To reel in a vine, hand over hand.
If it truly lives up to its name.
Without anyone knowing.
If only there were a way. "Mogana" expresses a wish.