Tane wa aredo au koto kataki iwa no ue no matsu nite toshi o furu wa kai nashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

種はあれど逢ふことかたき岩の上の
まつにて年をふるはかひなし

Roma-ji: Tane wa aredo au koto kataki iwa no ue no matsu nite toshi o furu wa kai nashi
English Translation: Though the seed is there,
meeting is as hard as rock—
like the pine on the stone,
to go on waiting through the years
brings me nothing in the end
Meaning: The seed may be there, but meeting is as hard as the rock where the pine takes root, and to spend the years only waiting like that pine is of no use at all.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 807

Headnote: "Sent when, after the mother of a woman to whom he had been sending letters had said, 'if one loves with all one's love,' years went by."
The poet says that though the seed is there, waiting like a pine on a rock where meeting is hard, and so spending the years, is of no use. Encouraged by the girl's mother, he has kept on waiting, yet he protests that years have passed without their ever meeting.
According to the headnote, the mother of the woman he wrote to had said "koi o shi koiba," but many years went by, and so he sent this poem. Her words quote the lower verse of an anonymous poem in the first book of love in the Kokin Wakashū, "tane shi areba iwa ni mo matsu wa oinikeri koi o shi koiba awazarame ya mo," and this poem replies with the "seed," "rock," and "pine" of its upper verse.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Tane wa aredo," means "though the seed is there," drawing on "tane shi areba" in the Kokin Wakashū poem.
The second line, "au koto kataki," means "meeting is hard," with "kataki" meaning both "difficult" and the "hardness" of rock.
The third line, "iwa no ue no," means "growing on the rock," and runs to six syllables, a hypermetric line.
The fourth line, "matsu nite toshi o," means "as a pine, the years," with "matsu" meaning both "pine" and "to wait." 816, 864, and 851 in this book likewise let "matsu" carry "to wait."
The last line, "furu wa kai nashi," means "to spend them is in vain," answering the source poem's encouraging "awazarame ya mo" with a complaint of futility.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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