Yo to tomo ni nageki koritsumu mi ni shi areba nazo yamamori no aru kai mo naki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世とともになげきこりつむ身にしあれば
なぞやまもりのあるかひもなき

Roma-ji: Yo to tomo ni nageki koritsumu mi ni shi areba nazo yamamori no aru kai mo naki
English Translation: Always, all my days,
I cut and stack my grief
like faggots of wood—
why then is this mountain guard
of yours no use at all
Meaning: All my days I cut and pile up my grief like firewood, so why is it that this charm, like a guardian of the mountain, is of no use at all?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 761

Headnote: "When the man who had left a protective charm with her changed his heart, she sent the charm back with this."
The poet asks why, since she is one who always piles up grief, the charm she was given is of no use. Weaving words associated with a mountain warden and firewood, she sends back with reproach the charm that failed to keep him from changing.
According to the headnote, the man who had left her a protective charm changed his heart, and she attached this poem when returning it.
The poet, listed as "Korehira no Ason no musume Imaki," was a daughter of Fujiwara no Korehira, a woman called Imaki, and little is known of her life.

The first line, "Yo to tomo ni," means "always, ceaselessly."
In the second line, "nageki koritsumu," "nageki" is a pivot word meaning both "grief" and "nage-ki," firewood. "Koritsumu," to cut and pile, is a word associated with firewood.
The third line, "mi ni shi areba," means "since I am one who," with "shi" an emphatic particle.
In the fourth line, "nazo yamamori no," "yamamori" is a pivot word joining "yamamori," a mountain warden, with "mamori," a charm, linked by association to "nageki" and "koritsumu" in the second line.
The last line, "aru kai mo naki," means "is of no use," closing in the attributive "naki" in answer to "nazo" in the fourth line.
Author: Imaki, Daughter of Fujiwara no Korehira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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