Aware chō koto ni shirushi wa nakeredomo iwade wa e koso aranu mono nare - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あはれてふ言にしるしはなけれども
言はではえこそあらぬものなれ

Roma-ji: Aware chō koto ni shirushi wa nakeredomo iwade wa e koso aranu mono nare
English Translation: That word "aware,"
though there's no virtue in it
when it's spoken,
still it is a thing that one
cannot keep from saying
Meaning: There is no virtue in the word "aware," how moving, when one says it—and yet it is something one simply cannot keep from saying.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems IV 1271

Headnote: "When various people were talking in front of the blinds at a certain place, he heard a woman's voice from within say, 'What an old man, looking as though he knows all about the pathos of things,' and composed this."
The poet says that though the word "aware" has no effect, one cannot help saying it. Teased by a woman behind the blinds as an old man who looks as if he knows the pathos of things, he replies that though it does no good, one cannot keep from voicing what the heart feels.
According to the headnote, as people talked in front of the blinds at a certain place, a woman's voice from inside said he was an old man who strangely looked as if he knew the pathos of things, and on hearing it he composed this.
The poet, "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he was the chief compiler of the Kokinshu and wrote its Japanese preface. He is also known as the author of the Tosa Diary, and the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Hito wa isa kokoro mo shirazu furusato wa."

The first line, "Aware chō," means "the word 'aware,'" with "chō" a contraction of "to iu." It takes up the woman's words "mono no aware" in the headnote.
The second line, "koto ni shirushi wa," means "in the word, any virtue."
The third line, "nakeredomo," means "there is none, and yet," with "domo" concessive.
The fourth line, "iwade wa e koso," means "without saying it, one cannot," with "e" paired with a negative for impossibility and "koso" an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "aranu mono nare," means "is a thing one cannot do," closing the "koso" with the realis "nare."
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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