Hashikiyashi awanu ko yue ni itazura ni ujigawa no se ni mosuso nurashitsu

はしきやし逢はぬ子ゆゑにいたづらに
宇治川の瀬に裳裾濡らしつ

Roma-ji: Hashikiyashi awanu ko yue ni itazura ni ujigawa no se ni mosuso nurashitsu
English Translation: O my dear one, ah,
for the girl who will not meet me,
all to no avail,
in the shallows of Uji
I have soaked my garment's hem
Meaning: Ah, dear one! For the sake of a girl who will not meet me, I have soaked the hem of my skirt in the shallows of the Uji River, all in vain.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2429

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The speaker laments having waded the shallows of the Uji River to visit someone who would not meet him, soaking his hem for nothing. Calling the cold-hearted one "dear" while mocking his own wasted effort as "in vain," the poem is suffused with the helplessness of love.
The preceding poem, 2428, tells of rapids too swift to cross, so that the lovers cannot meet; this poem tells of crossing the rapids and still not meeting. Set in the same shallows of the Uji River, the grief of not being able to cross and the grief of crossing without reward stand side by side. Because "mo," the skirt, was originally a garment worn by women, there are various views on who speaks the poem and how the skirt is to be understood.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "hashikiyashi": "ah, how dear," a word of heartfelt address. At the head of the poem it shows that the speaker still holds dear the one who will not meet him.
Second line, "awanu ko yue ni": "for the sake of a girl who will not meet me." "Yue ni" marks cause, but a concessive sense, "though she will not meet me," is also contained here.
Third line, "itazura ni": "in vain, to no purpose," making plain that the effort went unrewarded.
Fourth line, "ujigawa no se ni": "in the shallows of the Uji River." Following the preceding poem it names the Uji again, telling how the speaker crossed a hard river to visit.
Fifth line, "mosuso nurashitsu": "I have soaked the hem of my skirt." Closed firmly with the perfective auxiliary "tsu," it leaves behind the bitterness of effort spent for nothing.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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