Naniwazu o kyō koso Mitsu no ura goto ni kore ya kono yo o umiwataru fune - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

難波津を今日こそみつの浦ごとに
これやこの世をうみ渡る舟

Roma-ji: Naniwazu o kyō koso Mitsu no ura goto ni kore ya kono yo o umiwataru fune
English Translation: Naniwa harbor,
today at last I see it,
Mitsu, bay by bay—
are these the boats, then, that cross
the sea of a world grown weary
Meaning: Today at last I have seen Naniwa harbor, and in every bay of Mitsu the boats—are these, then, the boats that cross the sea, weary of this world?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1244

Headnote: "At a time of personal trouble, when he went to the land of Tsu and began to live there."
The poet says that today at last he has seen Naniwa, and asks whether the boats in every bay of Mitsu are those that cross the sea weary of the world. Joining "mitsu," I have seen, with Mitsu, and "umi," sea, with "umi," weariness, he overlays the boats plying the bays with himself, living on weary of the world.
According to the headnote, it was composed at a time of personal trouble, when he had gone to the land of Tsu and begun to live there.
The poet, "Lord Narihira," is Ariwara no Narihira. A son of Prince Abo and a younger half-brother of Ariwara no Yukihira, he was one of the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, and is taken as the model for the hero of the Tales of Ise.
The poem also appears, in nearly the same form, in Episode 66 of the Tales of Ise, as a poem composed in the land of Tsu.

The first line, "Naniwazu o," means "Naniwa harbor" in Settsu.
The second line, "kyō koso Mitsu no," is a pivot word on "mitsu," both "I have seen" and the place name Mitsu: today at last I see it, and the bays of Mitsu.
The third line, "ura goto ni," means "bay by bay."
The fourth line, "kore ya kono," means "is this, then," with "ya" interrogative.
The last line, "yo o umiwataru fune," is a pivot word on "umi," both sea and weariness: the boats crossing the sea, weary of the world. It ends on a noun.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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