Oinikeru nagisa no matsu no fukamidori shizumeru kage o yoso ni ya wa miru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

老いにける渚の松の深緑
沈める影をよそにやは見る

Roma-ji: Oinikeru nagisa no matsu no fukamidori shizumeru kage o yoso ni ya wa miru
English Translation: The shore pine grown old,
its green of deepest color—
that reflection sunk
beneath the water, could I
look on it as none of mine?
Meaning: The deep green of the aged pine on the shore, its reflection sunk beneath the water—how could I look on it as something apart from me?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1709

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'The Pine on the Shore.'"
This is the first of the poems lamenting old age. He cannot look as a stranger on the deep green of the aged pine on the shore, its reflection sunk in the water. In the sunken reflection he sees his own lot, grown old while sunk in obscurity. According to the headnote, the pine on the shore was the set topic.
The author, "Shitagō," is Minamoto no Shitagō. The son of Minamoto no Kyo, he was one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber who compiled the Gosen Wakashū and worked on reading the Man'yōshū. He also compiled the Wamyō Ruijushō and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. His rank never matched his learning.

The first line, "oinikeru," means "grown old," telling of the pine's long years. It echoes the last line of the next poem, "ware oinikeri," and poems on old age stand side by side.
The second line, "nagisa no matsu no," is the pine on the shore of the topic, taking up the waterside scenes of the preceding poems.
The third line, "fukamidori," is the pine's deep green, showing a tree still richly colored after many years.
The fourth line, "shizumeru kage o," is the pine's reflection sunk in the water. "Shizumu" also suggests being buried in obscurity.
In the last line, "yoso ni ya wa miru," "ya wa" is a rhetorical particle, closed in kakari-musubi by the attributive "miru." Meaning "could I see it as none of mine? No," it shows that he sees himself in the pine's reflection.
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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