Asana asana tatsu kawagiri no sora ni nomi ukite omoi no aru yo narikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

朝な朝な立つ川霧の空にのみ
うきて思ひのある世なりけり

Roma-ji: Asana asana tatsu kawagiri no sora ni nomi ukite omoi no aru yo narikeri
English Translation: Morning after morning
like the river mists that rise
into the empty sky
I drift, weighed down by longing
such is the way of love
Meaning: Like the river mist that rises every morning and floats in the sky, my heart drifts restless and weighed with sorrow; such, I have found, is love.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 513

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem overlays the river mist that rises each morning and drifts in the sky with days of love spent absent-minded and restless, full of sorrow. Pivoting the mist's "floating" with the heart's "sorrow," it expresses a heart suspended in midair like insubstantial mist. The repeated scene of mist each morning symbolizes the gloom of a love that never clears.

First line, "Morning after morning": asana asana means every single morning, showing brooding repeated day after day.
Second line, "like the river mists that rise": tatsu kawagiri, mist rising from the river, is an autumn image.
Third line, "into the empty sky": sora ni nomi means only in the sky and also absent-mindedly. Like "nakazora ni nomi" in poem 481 of this book, it entrusts the heart's restlessness to the sky.
Fourth line, "I drift, weighed down by longing": uki is a pivot word meaning both the mist "floating" in the sky and the heart being "sorrowful."
Fifth line, "such is the way of love": yo means the relation between man and woman, and keri expresses realization.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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