Tanabata no kaeru ashita no ama no kawa fune mo kayowanu nami mo tatanan - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

七夕の帰る朝の天の河
舟も通はぬ波も立たなん

Roma-ji: Tanabata no kaeru ashita no ama no kawa fune mo kayowanu nami mo tatanan
English Translation: For the Weaver Maid
the morning she must go home,
on Heaven's River
let such waves rise up that
no boat could ever pass
Meaning: On the morning the Weaver Maid must return, let waves rise on the River of Heaven so high that no boat can pass.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 248

Headnote: "The morning of the eighth of the Seventh Month."
The poet wishes that on the morning the Weaver Maid returns, waves might rise on the River of Heaven so high that no boat could pass. If the waves rose she could not go back, and the parting of the two would be put off; so the poem expresses regret at parting.
According to the headnote, it was composed on the morning of the eighth of the Seventh Month, the morning after Tanabata. The next poem is Ki no Tsurayuki's on the same theme, and the two are set side by side on the parting of the morning after Tanabata.
The poet, called "Kanesuke Ason," is Fujiwara no Kanesuke. A son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, he rose to Middle Counselor. Because his residence stood on the embankment of the Kamo River, he was called the Embankment Middle Counselor, and he was a patron of Ki no Tsurayuki, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, and others. He was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Tanabata no," means "the Weaver Maid."
The second line, "kaeru ashita no," means "of the morning she returns," pointing to the morning after the Tanabata meeting.
The third line, "ama no kawa," means "the River of Heaven."
The fourth line, "fune mo kayowanu," means "where no boat can pass," modifying the "waves" that follow.
In the last line, "nan" is a particle of wish directed at another: "may waves rise." Where 243 of this book sang of white waves hindering the crossing, this poem wishes for waves that hinder the parting.
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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