Shio no ma ni asari suru ama mo ono ga yoyo kai ari to koso omou beranare - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

潮の間にあさりする海人もおのが世々
かひありとこそ思ふべらなれ

Roma-ji: Shio no ma ni asari suru ama mo ono ga yoyo kai ari to koso omou beranare
English Translation: Even fisherfolk
who gather at low tide
in their own lives
seem to think that there is worth,
as there are shells to find
Meaning: Even the fishers who forage between the tides seem to feel their own lives have worth, just as there are shells to be found.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 758

Headnote: "When a woman he loved and had been exchanging words with wrote as though she were of no account."
The poet says that even fishers who forage at low tide seem to think their own lives have shells, that is, worth. To a woman who belittles herself as no one of note, he offers encouragement that every life has its own worth.
According to the headnote, the woman he loved and had been corresponding with wrote as though she were not worth counting among others, so he composed this poem.
The poet, listed as "Haseo no Ason," was Ki no Haseo. A son of Ki no Sadanori, he studied under Sugawara no Michizane, became Professor of Letters, and rose to Middle Counselor. He is known as a scholar skilled in Chinese poetry and prose.

The first line, "Shio no ma ni," means "while the tide is out."
The second line, "asari suru ama mo," means "even fishers who forage," a line with an extra syllable.
The third line, "ono ga yoyo," means "each in their own lives."
In the fourth line, "kai ari to koso," "kai" is a pivot word meaning both "shells" the fishers gather and "worth, effect." "Koso" is an emphatic particle.
The last line, "omou beranare," means "they seem to think," closing with the perfective "nare" in answer to "koso" in the fourth line, a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Ki no Haseo
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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