Eat Eels Poem by Otomo no Yakamochi

Eat Eels

Rating: 5.0


To Iwamaro
I say this:
If you've slimmed down in summer
There's one thing that works:
Catch and eat eels!

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Fabrizio Frosini 27 June 2016

this waka does express open sarcasm: Yakamochi's telling a certain Yoshida Iwamaro to eat eels if he is suffering from summer-thinness in the heat.. Actually, there are 2 waka with the same subject in the MAN'YŌSHŪ

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Fabrizio Frosini 27 June 2016

This man, Iwamaro, was apparently the child of Kimitaka. This old man, he thinned down to such an extent that his body hurt, and though he ate and drank a great deal, he still looked as if he was starving. So, Yakamochi composed these 2 poems as a joke (in MYS, XVI: 3853 and -54) .

21 0 Reply
Fabrizio Frosini 27 June 2016

The first of the two poems making fun of a man who’s lost weight: 石麻呂に我れ物申す夏痩せによしといふものぞ鰻捕り食せ ipamaro ni ware monö mawosu natu yase ni yösi tö ipu monö zö munagi tori mese To Iwamaro I say this: If you’ve slimmed down in summer There’s one thing that works: Catch and eat eels! MAN'YŌSHŪ - MYS XVI: 3853

22 0 Reply
Fabrizio Frosini 27 June 2016

this is the 2nd waka: 痩す痩すも生けらばあらむをはたやはた鰻を捕ると川に流るな yasu yasu mo ikeraba aramu wo pata ya pata munagi wo toru tö kapa ni nagaru na If you keep on thinning To keep on living, Here’s what you should do: Catch eels, but Don’t fall in the river! MAN'YŌSHŪ - MYS XVI: 3854

26 0 Reply
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