Waga koi wa ariso no umi no kaze o itami shikiri ni yosuru nami no ma mo nashi - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が恋は荒磯の海の風をいたみ
しきりに寄する波の間もなし

Roma-ji: Waga koi wa ariso no umi no kaze o itami shikiri ni yosuru nami no ma mo nashi
English Translation: This love of mine is
like the sea on the rough shore
where the wind blows hard:
waves that crash against it, with
no moment's pause between
Meaning: My love is like the sea along a rugged shore: the wind blows so hard that the waves crash in again and again, with no pause between them.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1064

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on unceasing longing sung through scenes of the water's edge and the sea. Like the waves driven hard against a rugged shore by fierce wind, love leaves no pause at all. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Ise," 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 first line, "waga koi wa," opens with the same first line as the preceding poem.
In the second line, "ariso" is a rocky, rugged shore.
The third line, "kaze o itami," gives a cause in the form "... o ... mi": because the wind is so fierce.
The fourth line, "shikiri ni yosuru," means "coming in again and again," and the second through fourth lines lead to "nami no ma" in the last line.
The last line, "nami no ma mo nashi," means "no pause between the waves," a figure for longing that never rests. Where the preceding poem was a fire kept hidden beneath a hut, this one is waves crashing without end, so that under the same opening "waga koi wa" a quietly burning love and a violently surging love stand side by side.
Author: Ise
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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