あさりする時ぞわびしき人知れず
難波の浦にすまふ我が身は
難波の浦にすまふ我が身は
- Roma-ji
-
Asari suru toki zo wabishiki hito shirezu naniwa no ura ni sumau waga mi wa
- English Translation
-
It is when I go
foraging that I'm wretched,
unknown to the world,
I who dwell upon the bay
of Naniwa, all alone
- Meaning
- It is when I go out foraging that I feel most wretched—I who live unknown to all on the bay of Naniwa.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 941
Headnote: "Sent after he went home, when someone tried to stop a man who had come in deep secrecy and raised a loud fuss."
The poet says that it is when he goes foraging that he is most wretched, he who lives unknown on the bay of Naniwa. Overlaying the birds or divers who forage on the shore with himself visiting a woman in secret, he tells of the misery of being discovered and driven away.
According to the headnote, someone tried to stop a man who had come secretly and made a loud fuss, so the man went home and sent this. The bay of Naniwa also appears in 943 and 960 in this book.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Asari suru," means "foraging," a figure for visiting the woman.
The second line, "toki zo wabishiki," means "that is when it is wretched," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle closed by the attributive "wabishiki." The poem pauses here, inverted with what follows.
The third line, "hito shirezu," means "unknown to others," marking a secret love.
The fourth line, "naniwa no ura ni," means "on the bay of Naniwa," a poetic place in Settsu.
The last line, "sumau waga mi wa," means "I who dwell there," with "sumau," to dwell, seeming to echo "sumau," to resist, hinting that he struggled against the one who tried to stop him.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Toshi o hete ikeru kai naki waga mi o ba nani ka wa hito ni ari to shiraren
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Nagametsutsu hito matsu yoi no yobukodori izukata e to ka yukikaeruramu