うきめのみ生ひて流るる浦なれば
かりにのみこそ海人は寄るらめ
かりにのみこそ海人は寄るらめ
- Roma-ji
-
Ukime nomi oite nagaruru ura nareba kari ni nomi koso ama wa yorurame
- English Translation
-
Since this is a bay
where floating weeds of sorrow
grow and drift away,
the fisherman only calls
to reap them for a moment
- Meaning
- Since this is a bay where only drifting seaweed grows and floats away, the fisherman comes only to reap it, stopping by in passing. So too he visits me, whose lot is only sorrow, just for a fleeting while.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 755
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The seaside image of a fisherman who stops at a bay of drifting seaweed only to cut it is layered over the woman's lament that her lover, visiting a life full of sorrow, comes only in passing. The woman is the bay and the man the fisherman, and pivot words carry the double meaning throughout.
In the first line ukime is a pivot word, meaning both floating seaweed and bitter experience.
The second line describes seaweed growing and floating off, hinting at sorrows that pile up without end.
The third line, "since it is a bay," identifies the bay with the speaker; ura may also echo the word for heart.
In the fourth line kari is a pivot word, meaning both "to reap" and "temporary." Koso is resolved by rame in the last line.
In the last line the fisherman is the visiting man, and yoru means both stopping at the bay and his visits. Rame, the perfective of ramu, resolves koso.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Hanagatami menarabu hito no amata areba wasurarenuramu kazu naranu mi wa
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Ai ni aite mono omou koro no waga sode ni yadoru tsuki sae nururu kao naru