classic waka stream

世間の遊びの道に楽しきは
酔ひ泣きするにあるべくあるらし
Roma-ji

Yo no naka no asobi no michi ni tanoshiki wa einaki suru ni arubeku arurashi

English Translation
Of all the pastimes
that the world has to offer,
the one that most delights
is to weep in drunken tears—
so it must be, it would seem.
Meaning
Of all the pleasures the world affords, the greatest delight, it seems, must be to weep drunken tears.
Commentary
Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 347

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Lord Ōtomo"
This is the tenth of the thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo. Among all the world's amusements, the most delightful is drinking and weeping in one's cups. Taking up "drunken weeping" again after the fourth poem, it shows his singular attitude toward wine, finding joy in weeping as the heart wills.
The thirteen poems in praise of sake form a sequence in which Tabito, at Dazaifu, extols wine as a way of rejecting worldly cleverness and consoling life's sorrows, drawing on Chinese precedents such as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was a son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro. He served as Middle Counselor and Governor-General of Dazaifu before rising to Great Counselor, and died in Tenpyō 3 (731). Steeped in Chinese letters, he was at the center of a poetic circle with Yamanoue no Okura and others while serving in Tsukushi.

First line "Of all the pastimes": yo no naka no has one syllable too many.
Second line "that the world has to offer" means among the amusements of life.
Third line "the one that most delights": the reading of this line varies because of the characters in the original.
Fourth line "is to weep in drunken tears" uses the same word as the fourth poem of the sequence.
Fifth line "so it must be, it would seem" ends with layered inference.
Author
Ōtomo no Tabito
Source
Manyoshu
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