Spin & Discover Kakekotoba!
Poem 58: Daini no Sanmi
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.
ありま山
猪名の笹原
風吹けば
いでそよ人を
忘れやはする
Commentary
The word "soyo" is a kakekotoba.
A kakekotoba layers two meanings onto a single word that sounds the same either way.
Here, "soyo" carries both the rustling "soyo-soyo" sound of wind passing through a bamboo grass field and "それよ" (sore yo, "that's right").
When the wind blows through the bamboo grass of Ina, it rustles with a soft "soyo-soyo." As if drawn out by that very sound, the words spill out: "That's right — how could I ever forget you? No, I never could." The scene and the feeling overlap beautifully in a single sound.
Packing two meanings into just thirty-one syllables is exactly what makes kakekotoba so appealing.
Vocabulary
That's exactly right.
The name of a mountain in what is now Hyōgo Prefecture.
A place called Ina (around present-day Kawanishi City, Hyōgo Prefecture).
It is said to have been a field overgrown with bamboo grass at the time.
Well now, indeed. An interjection expressing emotion or resolve.
Could I ever forget you? No, I never could.
Expresses a rhetorical question.