Naniwabito ika naru e ni ka kuchihaten au koto nami ni mi o tsukushitsutsu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

難波人いかなるえにか朽ち果てん
逢ふことなみに身をつくしつつ

Roma-ji: Naniwabito ika naru e ni ka kuchihaten au koto nami ni mi o tsukushitsutsu
English Translation: Man of Naniwa,
in what inlet will you rot
away to nothing?
No waves of meeting come, and still
you spend yourself, a channel stake
Meaning: In what inlet will the man of Naniwa rot away? No meeting ever comes, and still he wears himself out, like a channel stake sunk in the water.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1077

Headnote: "Composed on 'Hidden Love' at a poetry contest of the Bureau of Poetry."
This is the second poem of the sequence on love sung through reeds. In what inlet will the man of Naniwa rot away, the poet asks, spending himself while no meeting ever comes. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Hidden Love" at a poetry contest held by the Bureau of Poetry.
The author, "Regent and Chancellor," is Kujō Yoshitsune. A son of the Regent Kujō Kanezane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor. He wrote the Kana Preface of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.

The first line, "Naniwabito," means a person living at Naniwa, a place thick with reeds and studded with channel stakes, also sung in 1049 and 1063.
In the second line, "e" pivots between "e," an inlet, and "e," the bond between lovers. The question particle "ka" is resolved by "n" in the third line.
The third line, "kuchihaten," means "will he rot away?" laying the speaker's own body over a stake decaying in the water. The poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, "nami" pivots between "nami," waves, and "nami," the absence of a thing, associated with Naniwa.
In the last line, "tsukushi" pivots between "miotsukushi," the stake set to mark a channel, and spending oneself utterly. Inlet, waves, and channel stake run together as associated words of Naniwa, and the topic "Hidden Love" is sung as a body rotting away without ever giving its name.
Author: Kujō Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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