Yo no naka o somuki ni to te wa koshikadomo nao uki koto wa ōhara no sato - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中を背きにとては来しかども
なほ憂きことはおほはらの里

Roma-ji: Yo no naka o somuki ni to te wa koshikadomo nao uki koto wa ōhara no sato
English Translation: From this world of ours,
meaning to turn my back on it,
hither I have come—
but sorrows still are many
in this village of Ōhara.
Meaning: I came here meaning to turn my back on the world, but sorrows are still many in this village of Ōhara.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1628

Headnote: "When Yoshinobu Ason visited Ōharano and found, in a very humble mountain village, a person who did not look like one who would live there, he asked where she had come from to live there, and she replied:"
This is the first poem of an exchange on the village of Ōhara. The speaker came meaning to renounce the world, yet sorrows are still many in the village of Ōhara. According to the headnote, when Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu visited Ōharano and asked a person, who did not look as though she belonged in so humble a mountain village, where she had come from, this was her answer.
The author is "Anonymous," and no name has come down.
Ōharano lies in Yamashiro Province, in present-day Nishikyō Ward, Kyoto. The Ōharano Shrine there enshrines the deities of Kasuga, invited from Nara. The next poem, 1629, is Yoshinobu's reply.

The first line, "yo no naka o," presents the world that is to be renounced.
The second line, "somuki ni to te wa," means "meaning to turn my back." It says she came intending to renounce the world, to take vows or live in seclusion.
The third line, "koshikadomo," means "though I came." The past "shi" with the adversative "kadomo" shows the gap between intention and reality.
The fourth line, "nao uki koto wa," means "yet the sorrows." Like "itoite mo nao itowashiki yo" in 1620 in this book, it sings of sorrow that remains even after fleeing the world.
The last line, "ōhara no sato," pivots on "ōhara," both sorrows being "many," "ōkari," and the place name Ōhara. Ending in a noun, it reveals the place name as the answer to his question.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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