Aware hito kyō no inochi o shiramaseba naniwa no ashi ni chigirazaramashi

English Translation

Ah, my friend—
had you known your life
would end today,
by the reeds of Naniwa
you would have made no vow.

Meaning

Ah, my friend—had you known your life would end this day, you would never have made that vow by the reeds of Naniwa.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 823

Headnote: "On hearing that Ōe no Yoshitoki, who had gone down on becoming Governor of Tsushima after composing 'on the tips of the reeds of the Naniwa canal,' had died in that province."
This is the first poem of the sequence recalling the days when the dead were alive. It says that had he known his life would end that day, he would not have made a vow by the reeds of Naniwa. According to the headnote, Ōe no Yoshitoki composed "on the tips of the reeds of the Naniwa canal" when going down to Tsushima as its governor, and the poem was composed on hearing that he had died in that province.
The author's lay name was Tachibana no Nagayasu; he took holy orders and traveled through the provinces visiting places famed in poetry. He is one of the Thirty-Six Later Poetic Immortals. "Ōe no Yoshitoki" was a poet of the mid-Heian period who became Governor of Tsushima. He too is one of the Thirty-Six Later Poetic Immortals.
The scene is the time when he heard that Yoshitoki had died in his province, and the place is not recorded.
The direct occasion is hearing that Yoshitoki, who had gone down as Governor of Tsushima, had died in that province.
The poem Yoshitoki composed on leaving vows by the tips of the reeds of the Naniwa canal that, if he lives, he will soon return, and it is included in the Goshūi Wakashū. Naniwa is a famed place in poetry in Settsu Province, sung of together with reeds.

In the first line, "aware hito," "aware" is an interjection meaning "ah." "Hito" refers to the late Yoshitoki, and the poem opens with an address.
The second line, "kyō no inochi o," means "a life that would end today."
In the third line, "shiramaseba," "maseba" is counterfactual and corresponds to "mashi" in the last line, meaning "if you had known."
The fourth line, "naniwa no ashi ni," takes up "the tips of the reeds of the Naniwa canal" that Yoshitoki sang of in his departure poem.
In the last line, "chigirazaramashi," "mashi" is counterfactual, meaning "you would not have vowed." It laments that the promise Yoshitoki entrusted to the reeds of Naniwa, to return if he lived, went unfulfilled. From the poems of smoke before it, here words exchanged in life become the means of remembering the dead, and the next poem, 824, is also a poem recalling the past.

Author

Nōin

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other