Kawagishi no odori oru beki tokoro araba uki ni shini senu mi wa nagete mashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

河きしのをどり下るべき所あらば
憂きに死にせぬ身は投げてまし

Roma-ji: Kawagishi no odori oru beki tokoro araba uki ni shini senu mi wa nagete mashi
English Translation: If upon the riverbank
there were a place where I
could leap down below,
this body that does not die
of sorrow I would cast in.
Meaning: If there were a place on the riverbank where I could leap down, I would cast in this body that does not die even of its sorrows.
Commentary: Book Seven Names of Things 401

Headnote: "Kishi no otori (kishi no otori bird)"
The poet says that if there were a place on the riverbank where he could leap down, he would throw in this body that fails to die even of its sorrows. Within the lament over the pain of living, the name "kishi no otori" given in the headnote is hidden in the run of sounds "kishi no odori" from the first to the second line. The headnote names the thing hidden in the poem.
The author, written as Sukemi, is Fujiwara no Sukemi. A son of Fujiwara no Hirotsune, he was a mid-Heian poet known as Tōroku. He excelled at poems hiding the names of things, and his personal collection is the Tōrokushū.

First line, "kawagishi no," means "on the riverbank." With "odori" at the start of the second line, it hides the name "kishi no otori."
Second line, "odori oru beki," means "where one could leap down." After the name of a bean in the preceding poem, from here poems hiding the names of birds continue.
Third line, "tokoro araba," means "if there were a place," the irrealis form with "ba" expressing a supposition.
Fourth line, "uki ni shini senu," means "that does not die of sorrow."
Final line, "mi wa nagete mashi," means "I would throw this body in," with "mashi" an auxiliary supposing what is contrary to fact, taking up the supposition of the third line.
Author: Fujiwara no Sukemi
Source: Shui Wakashu
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