Sadame naki na ni wa tateredo asukagawa hayaku watarishi se ni koso arikere - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

定めなき名には立てれど飛鳥川
はやく渡りし瀬にこそありけれ

Roma-ji: Sadame naki na ni wa tateredo asukagawa hayaku watarishi se ni koso arikere
English Translation: Though it bears a name
for never staying the same,
the Asuka River
was the shoal I crossed before,
running swift, just as of old.
Meaning: Though it is known for never staying the same, the Asuka River was the very same swift shoal I crossed long ago.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1657

Headnote: "On the Asuka River, when in the Tenryaku reign the emperor had names of places in the provinces written on folding screens."
This is a single poem on the Asuka River. Though it has a name for inconstancy, the Asuka River proved to be the same shoal the poet crossed before. According to the headnote, it was composed on the Asuka River when, in the Tenryaku era of Emperor Murakami, famous places of the provinces were painted on folding screens.
The author, "Nakatsukasa," was a daughter of Prince Atsuyoshi, a son of Emperor Uda, and of the poet Ise. She was one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The Asuka River is in Yamato Province. Since the anonymous Kokinshū poem "Yo no naka wa / nani ka tsune naru / Asukagawa / kinō no fuchi zo / kyō wa se ni naru" ("What in this world is constant? In the Asuka River, yesterday's deep pool is today a shoal"), it has been sung as an emblem of ceaseless change.

The first line, "sadame naki," means "never settled." It refers to the Asuka River's reputation, spread by the Kokinshū poem.
The second line, "na ni wa tateredo," means "though it has such a name." "Tatere" is the realis form of "tateri," and "do" is adversative.
The third line, "asukagawa," names the Asuka River, the bearer of that reputation.
The fourth line, "hayaku watarishi," pivots on "hayaku," both "formerly" and "swiftly flowing."
The last line, "se ni koso arikere," closes the kakari-musubi of "koso" with the realis form "kere." Against the reputation that its pools and shoals trade places, it sets the reasoning that it was the same shoal as of old. It echoes the preceding poem's long-enduring Seta bridge in singing of what does not change.
Author: Nakatsukasa
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Maki no ita mo koke musu bakari narinikeri ikuyo henuran seta no nagahashi
Next Poem: Yamazato ni hitori nagamete omou kana yo ni sumu hito no kokorozuyosa o