Kumo mo naku nagitaru asa no ware nare ya itowarete nomi yo o ba henuramu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

雲もなく凪ぎたる朝の我なれや
いとはれてのみ世をば経ぬらむ

Roma-ji: Kumo mo naku nagitaru asa no ware nare ya itowarete nomi yo o ba henuramu
English Translation: Am I like a morn
with no clouds in all the sky
and the wind at rest?
So cleared away, so disliked,
have I lived out all my days
Meaning: Am I like a calm morning with no clouds in the sky? As that sky is utterly clear, so I have spent my life being utterly disliked.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 753

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poem calls a cloudless, windless morning ito hare, "utterly clear," and turns it into itoware, "disliked," lamenting that he has been nothing but disliked. The witty pivot that draws a dark lament from a bright, calm scene is the poem's highlight.
The author, "Ki no Tomonori," is Ki no Tomonori, son of Ki no Aritomo and cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki. He rose to Senior Private Secretary and was appointed a compiler of the Kokinshū, but is said to have died before its completion. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line describes a sky without a single cloud, forming the scene of a clear morning.
The second line means a morning when the wind has dropped, and with the first line it leads to a morning that is ito hare, utterly clear.
In the third line nare ya, the perfective of nari with the question particle ya, asks: am I such a morning? The poem breaks here.
In the fourth line itoware is a pivot word, meaning both the sky being "utterly clear" and being "disliked" by someone. Nomi adds "only."
In the last line yo is the world or a love relation, and henuramu is a conjecture: I must have lived my days this way.
Author: Ki no Tomonori
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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