Shinaba koso aimizu arame ikite araba shirokami kora ni oizu arame ya mo

死なばこそ相見ずあらめ生きてあらば
白髪子らに生ひずあらめやも

Roma-ji: Shinaba koso aimizu arame ikite araba shirokami kora ni oizu arame ya mo
English Translation: Only if you die
will you never see the day;
but if you should live,
young ones, how could white hair
not come to grow on you as well?
Meaning: Only if you die young will you be spared the sight; but if you live on, girls, how could white hair fail to grow on you as well?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3792

Headnote continued from the chōka 3791: "Two envoys."
Addressing the young women, the old man warns that only an early death would spare them, for if they live, white hair will surely come to them too. Mocked for his age, he turns the tables by reminding them that old age comes to everyone.
The tale of the Bamboo-Cutter is told in the headnote to the chōka. Climbing a hill in late spring, the old bamboo-cutter came upon nine maidens cooking broth, who teased him and made him blow on their fire. Saying he had chanced upon immortals, he apologized with one chōka and two envoys, and the maidens answered him with nine poems.
The Bamboo-Cutter is a legendary old man said to live by gathering bamboo. Because he shares his title with the old man of the later Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, he has long drawn attention as one possible source of that story.

First line, "shinaba koso," means "only if you die." The particle koso forms a kakari-musubi with arame in the second line, singling out death as the one exception.
Second line, "aimizu arame," means "you would not see it." Me is the realis form of mu, closing the koso construction while flowing on with a concessive turn.
Third line, "ikite araba," means "if you live." It pairs with shinaba in the first line, setting life against death to show that age cannot be escaped.
Fourth line, "shirokami kora ni," means "white hair on you girls." Kora is an affectionate word for the nine maidens, and the next poem, 3793, takes up the same kora ni.
Final line, "oizu arame ya mo," means "how could it not grow?" Ya mo marks a rhetorical question, and the hypermetric final line carries the old man's firm conclusion.
Author: The Old Bamboo-Cutter
Source: Manyoshu
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