Oto ni kiku matsugaurashima kyō zo miru mube mo kokoro aru ama wa sumikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

音に聞く松が浦島今日ぞ見る
むべも心あるあまは住みけり

Roma-ji: Oto ni kiku matsugaurashima kyō zo miru mube mo kokoro aru ama wa sumikeri
English Translation: Long heard of in tales,
Matsugaurashima, today
at last I see it—
no wonder one who dwells here
is a fisher-nun of feeling
Meaning: Matsugaurashima, the isle of pines I had so often heard of—today at last I see it. No wonder, then, that one of fine feeling dwells here, a fisher, or rather a nun.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1093

Headnote: "When the Empress of the Western Palace had taken the tonsure and was devoting herself to religious practice, written after shaving a pine on the island in the palace pond."
The poet says that today at last he sees Matsugaurashima, so long heard of, and no wonder an ama of fine feeling lives here. Treating the pine on the pond island as the famous Matsugaurashima and letting "ama" mean both fisherfolk and nun, he praises the life of the empress who had taken holy orders.
According to the headnote, when the Empress of the Western Palace had taken the tonsure and was practicing the Buddhist way, he shaved the bark of a pine on the island in the palace pond and wrote this on it. The empress is thought to be Princess Masako, consort of Emperor Junna.
The poet, the monk Sosei, was a son of Archbishop Henjō. Taking holy orders, he lived at temples such as Urin-in, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "Oto ni kiku," means "that I have heard of."
The second line, "matsugaurashima," is Matsugaurashima, a famed place in Michinoku, seen in the pine on the palace island.
The third line, "kyō zo miru," means "today I see it," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle closed by the attributive "miru." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "mube mo kokoro aru," means "no wonder, of fine feeling," with "mube" expressing that something makes sense.
The last line, "ama wa sumikeri," means "an ama dwells here," with "ama" joining the fisherfolk of the island and the nun, meaning the empress. "Keri" expresses the wonder of realization.
Author: Sosei Hoshi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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