Minato iri no ashiwake obune sawari ōmi aga omou kimi ni awanu koro kamo

港入りの葦別け小舟障り多み
我が思ふ君に逢はぬころかも

Roma-ji: Minato iri no ashiwake obune sawari ōmi aga omou kimi ni awanu koro kamo
English Translation: Like a little boat
parting reeds to reach the port,
hindrances abound,
and so the one I long for
I cannot meet in these days
Meaning: Like a little boat pushing through the reeds to enter the harbor, I am beset with hindrances, and these days I cannot meet the one I love.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2745

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
This love poem laments that so many obstacles keep the speaker from meeting the beloved. The image of a small boat parting thick reeds, its way constantly blocked, is laid over the many hindrances to love.
It is a poem "Expressing Feelings through Things," speaking through a reed-parting boat entering a harbor. After the preceding poems about fishers comes a boat, and the next poem too uses a fishing boat as its introduction. The reed-parting boat was handed down in later waka as an expression for the many obstacles to love.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "minato iri no": "entering the harbor." The line is a syllable too long and describes a boat coming into a river-mouth or inlet harbor.
Second line, "ashiwake obune": a small boat parting the thick reeds. The first two lines form an introductory phrase that, through the boat's hampered progress, leads to "sawari ōmi" in the third line.
Third line, "sawari ōmi": "because hindrances are many." The "-mi" ending on an adjective stem gives a reason, and the meaning shifts from the boat's obstacles to the obstacles of love.
Fourth line, "aga omou kimi ni": "the one I love."
Fifth line, "awanu koro kamo": "these days when I cannot meet you." The particle "kamo" closes the lament with deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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