Mizu no ue ni ukaberu fune no kimi naraba koko zo tomari to iwamashi mono o - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

水の上に浮かべる舟の君ならば
ここぞとまりと言はましものを

Roma-ji: Mizu no ue ni ukaberu fune no kimi naraba koko zo tomari to iwamashi mono o
English Translation: Were you a boat
floating upon the water,
my lord, then I
would say, "This is your harbor—
here is where you stay."
Meaning: If you, my lord, were a boat floating on the water, I would tell you, "Here is your harbor," and keep you from leaving.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 920

Headnote: "Offered when, on the day a newly built boat was first launched on the pond of the Prince of Central Affairs, the Retired Emperor came to see it and in the evening was about to depart"
On the day a newly built boat was first launched on the pond at the residence of the Prince of Central Affairs, Retired Emperor Uda came to watch, and when he was about to leave in the evening, the poet offered this. Likening him to a boat on the pond, she says she would tell him this is his harbor and keep him there, voicing her reluctance to see him go.
The author, "Ise," was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage who served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She won Uda's favor, and later bore the poet Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi, Minister of Central Affairs. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The "Prince of Central Affairs" in the headnote is thought to be Prince Atsuyoshi, a son of Emperor Uda. Following the preceding poem, 919, this is another waterside poem connected with the retired emperor.

First line "mizu no ue ni" shows the surface of the pond, setting the boating scene.
Second line "ukaberu fune no" uses the attributive of the continuative ri, a boat floating there.
Third line "kimi naraba" supposes the retired emperor to be the boat, a fitting figure for a boating party.
Fourth line "koko zo tomari to": tomari is a pivot word joining a boat's "harbor" and "staying."
Fifth line "iwamashi mono o" joins the counterfactual mashi and the adversative mono o: I would say so and keep you here.
Author: Ise
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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