Spin & Discover Kakekotoba!
Poem 97: Acting Middle Counselor Sadaie
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.
来ぬ人を
まつほの浦の
夕なぎに
焼くやもしほの
身もこがれつつ
Commentary
The word "matsuho" is a kakekotoba.
A kakekotoba layers two meanings onto a single word that sounds the same either way.
Here, "matsuho" carries both the place name "松帆" (Matsuho) and "待つ" (to wait).
Just as the fisherfolk burn seaweed for salt on the shore of Matsuho in the stillness of evening, so too do I go on waiting for you, who never comes, my heart burning with longing all the while.
Layering "matsu" (to wait) onto the place name "Matsuho," the poem expresses the aching sorrow of waiting endlessly for a beloved, set against the scene of salt-making fires.
Packing two meanings into just thirty-one syllables is exactly what makes kakekotoba so appealing.
Vocabulary
One who does not come. Here, refers to a beloved who never arrives, no matter how long the poet waits.
A stretch of shoreline at the northern tip of present-day Awaji Island, Hyōgo Prefecture.
The stillness at evening, when the wind dies down and the waves grow calm.
Mo-shio, or "seaweed salt" — salt made by burning seaweed, or the method of making it.
While burning with longing.
A phrase that layers the fire used to make salt from seaweed onto the poet's own heart, burning with love.