Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo awade kono yo o sugushite yo to ya - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

難波潟短き葦の節の間も
逢はでこのよを過ぐしてよとや

Roma-ji: Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo awade kono yo o sugushite yo to ya
English Translation: Naniwa Bay's
short reeds, even for as brief
as the space between their joints,
without meeting, through this life
must I pass, is that your word?
Meaning: Not even for a moment as brief as the space between the joints of the short reeds of Naniwa Bay may we meet? Is that what you are telling me: to pass my whole life without you?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1049

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on love that cannot meet, sung through places and things. Must she pass her life without meeting even for as long as the space between the joints of a reed in Naniwa Bay, she asks, reproaching the beloved's coldness. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Ise," continues from the preceding poem and was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, and was called Ise because her father was Governor of Ise. She served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda, won the emperor's favor, and bore him a son. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The poem was chosen by Fujiwara no Teika for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Naniwagata," names the tidal flats of Naniwa in Settsu, an inlet of present-day Osaka Bay, a poetic place sung for its thick reeds.
The second line, "mijikaki ashi no," means "of the short reeds."
The third line, "fushi no ma mo," means "even for as short a time as the space between the joints of a reed," and the first three lines form a preface expressing a brief moment.
In the fourth line, "yo" pivots between "yo," this life, and "yo," the section between a reed's joints, associated with the reed.
In the last line, "te yo" is the imperative of the perfective "tsu," and "to ya" means "is that what you say?" Where the preceding poem lamented being set apart, this one sharpens the reproach by pressing the question: would you have me live without meeting?
Author: Ise
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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