Oshiteru ya naniwa no mitsu ni yaku shio no karaku mo ware wa oinikeru kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おしてるや難波の御津に焼く塩の
からくも我は老いにけるかな

Roma-ji: Oshiteru ya naniwa no mitsu ni yaku shio no karaku mo ware wa oinikeru kana
English Translation: At Mitsu harbor
in Naniwa, bright with sun,
the salt they burn—
bitter as that salt, alas,
is how old I have become.
Meaning: Like the salt burned at Mitsu harbor in Naniwa, bitterly have I grown old.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 894

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Using the bitterness of salt burned on the shore of Mitsu in Naniwa as an introduction, the poem laments having grown bitterly old. The seaside scene of salt-burning smoke heightens the bitterness of age. The author is unknown.
A left note says, "Or: ōtomo no mitsu no hamabe ni," a variant reading of the upper verses as "on the shore of Mitsu in Ōtomo."
A left note says, "These three poems are said to have been composed by three old men of long ago," so the three poems from 893 to 895 are traditionally ascribed to three old men, one each.

First line "oshiteru ya" is a pillow word for Naniwa.
Second line "naniwa no mitsu ni" points to the harbor of Naniwa.
Third line "yaku shio no" is the making of salt by boiling seawater; the first three lines form a preface leading to karaku.
Fourth line "karaku mo ware wa": karaku is a pivot word joining "salty" and "bitter, painful."
Fifth line "oinikeru kana" layers the perfective nu, the past keri, and the exclamatory kana, ending in deep lament. Poem 902 shares the same last line, and the two echo within the group on age.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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