Mizu no ue ni kazu kaku gotoki waga inochi imo ni awamu to ukeitsuru kamo

水の上に数書くごとき我が命
妹に逢はむとうけひつるかも

Roma-ji: Mizu no ue ni kazu kaku gotoki waga inochi imo ni awamu to ukeitsuru kamo
English Translation: Like numbers written
upon the surface of water,
so fleeting my life,
and yet to meet my beloved
I have sworn my vow to the gods
Meaning: Though my life is as fleeting as numbers written upon water, I have sworn a vow before the gods that I would meet my beloved.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2433

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Though the speaker's life is as fleeting as numbers written on water, vanishing as soon as they are traced, he has still made a solemn vow to the gods that he will meet his beloved. The poem expresses the urgency of a love that cannot stop longing to meet even while knowing how brief life is.
The image of "writing numbers on water" is thought by some to derive from a Buddhist scriptural figure likening the body's frailty to a picture drawn on water, and the poem carries a sense of impermanence unusual among the love poems of the Man'yoshu. Continuing from the preceding poem, 2432, it is another poem on water, moving from the rushing torrent to a surface on which nothing leaves a trace.
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, "mizu no ue ni": "on the surface of the water," presented as a place where nothing written keeps its shape.
Second line, "kazu kaku gotoki": "like writing numbers." Since the figures vanish as soon as they are written, it becomes a figure for what is fleeting.
Third line, "waga inochi": "my life." Taking up the simile of the first two lines, it speaks of the frailty of one's own life, with the concessive sense "though my life is so fleeting."
Fourth line, "imo ni awamu to": "that I may meet my beloved." The auxiliary "mu" expresses intention and gives the content of the prayer.
Fifth line, "ukeitsuru kamo": "I have made my vow to the gods." The attributive "tsuru" of the perfective auxiliary "tsu" is followed by the exclamatory "kamo," closing with deep feeling.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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