Ashigamo no sawagu irie no mizu no e no yo ni sumigataki waga mi narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あし鴨の騒ぐ入江の水の江の
世にすみがたき我が身なりけり

Roma-ji: Ashigamo no sawagu irie no mizu no e no yo ni sumigataki waga mi narikeri
English Translation: Where the reed-bed ducks
clamor in the inlet bay,
the water of that cove—
like it, hard to settle clear
is this life of mine, I find.
Meaning: Like the water of the inlet where ducks among the reeds clamor, which can hardly settle clear, I find myself hardly able to live in this world.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1707

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
A lament that the world is hard to live in, it pairs with the next poem, sharing the opening line "ashigamo no." As ducks clamoring in an inlet stir the water so it cannot settle clear, so this life of his is hard to live. The waterside scene serves as a preface that leads into his grief at having no place in the world.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A poet of the Asuka period who served at the courts of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, he is the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū. In later ages many poems attributed to him were taken into the imperial anthologies, though some cannot be confirmed as his own.

The first line, "ashigamo no," is ducks by the reedy waterside. The next poem opens with the same line, and the two are set side by side.
The second line, "sawagu irie no," means "of the inlet where ducks clamor." The ducks' commotion is set down as what muddies the water.
The third line, "mizu no e no," is the water of the inlet. The first three lines form a preface leading to water that is "hard to settle clear."
In the fourth line, "yo ni sumigataki," "sumi" is a pivot word meaning both "water settling clear" and "living in the world." A single word turns the watery preface to the human world.
In the last line, "waga mi narikeri," "keri" expresses realization. The poem closes as he comes to see that it is none other than himself who can hardly live in this world.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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