Shirube se yo ato naki nami ni kogu fune no yukue mo shiranu yae no shiokaze - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

しるべせよ跡なき波に漕ぐ舟の
行方も知らぬ八重の潮風

Roma-ji: Shirube se yo ato naki nami ni kogu fune no yukue mo shiranu yae no shiokaze
English Translation: Be my guide, I pray:
on waves that leave no trace behind
the boat rows onward,
not knowing where it goes at all,
the eightfold wind off the sea
Meaning: Be my guide. Like a boat rowing out over waves that keep no trace, I do not know where I am going, O eightfold wind off the sea.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1074

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on love whose course is unknown, sung through boats. Like a boat rowing out over waves that keep no trace, the speaker does not know where she goes, and asks the eightfold sea wind to guide her. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Princess Shokushi," was a daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa. She served as High Priestess of the Kamo Shrines and later took holy orders. She studied poetry under Fujiwara no Shunzei.
The foundation poem is 1071, by Yoshitada.

The first line, "shirube se yo," means "be my guide," in the imperative. It opens without naming whom it calls to, and the sea wind of the last line answers that call. The poem breaks here.
The second line, "ato naki nami ni," means "on waves that keep no trace." Where 1057 asked the plover to leave its tracks, here the waves keep none.
The third line, "kogu fune no," means "of the boat that rows," taking up "wataru funabito" from the foundation poem.
The fourth line, "yukue mo shiranu," uses the foundation poem's fourth line unchanged.
The last line, "yae no shiokaze," ends on a noun. Like the "okitsu shiokaze" that closed the preceding poem, it ends on a salt wind, and it takes up "yae no shioji" from 1072. Where the foundation poem only laments a rudderless boat's course, this one turns to calling out for a guide.
Author: Princess Shokushi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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