Koishinaba ta ga na wa tataji yo no naka no tsune naki mono to iihanasu tomo - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋ひ死なば誰が名は立たじ世の中の
常なきものと言ひはなすとも

Roma-ji: Koishinaba ta ga na wa tataji yo no naka no tsune naki mono to iihanasu tomo
English Translation: If I die of love,
whose name but yours will be
spoken of by all,
though you may claim it was
but the way of this fleeting world?
Meaning: If I die of love, whose name but yours will people whisper? Even if you try to explain it away as just the impermanence of this world.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 603

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet appeals to the beloved: if he dies of love, the world will say it was the beloved's doing, even if one tries to explain his death away as the impermanence of the world. With the exaggeration of dying for love, he reproaches the beloved's coldness and tries to move that heart by stirring concern for reputation, giving the poem something of the air of a lovers' tactic.
Kiyohara no Fukayabu was a poet of the early to mid Heian period, the grandfather of Kiyohara no Motosuke and great-grandfather of Sei Shōnagon. He served as Assistant in the Bureau of Palace Artisans and was known as a skilled koto player.

First line, "koishinaba": koishinu means to die of longing; na is the conditional form and ba marks a hypothesis.
Second line, "ta ga na wa tataji": na is reputation, especially rumor of a love affair. Ji is negative conjecture: "whose name would be spoken of? None but yours." The poem breaks here.
Third line, "yo no naka no": the human world, society.
Fourth line, "tsune naki mono to": tsune nashi means impermanent, "that a death is due to the impermanence of the world."
Fifth line, "iihanasu tomo": iihanasu means to explain away or make excuses, and tomo is a concessive hypothesis. The order with the second line is inverted. Like 568 of this book, which sings of a life about to die of love, it takes up dying for love, but differs in appealing to the beloved's reputation.
Author: Kiyohara no Fukayabu
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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