Kimi nakute ashikarikeri to omou ni mo itodo Naniwa no ura zo sumiuki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君なくてあしかりけりと思ふにも
いとど難波の浦ぞ住み憂き

Roma-ji: Kimi nakute ashikarikeri to omou ni mo itodo Naniwa no ura zo sumiuki
English Translation: Without you, I think,
things went ill, and I came to
cutting reeds for bread;
all the more the Naniwa shore
is a hard place to live on.
Meaning: When I think how, without you, things went badly and I came to cutting reeds, the shore of Naniwa grows all the harder to live on.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 540

Headnote: "When a certain woman went to Naniwa for a purification, she met on the road a man she had once been close to, who had become a shabby reed-cutter; pretending not to know him, she sent word of how long it had been since they could meet, and the man composed this"
The poet says that when he thinks how, without her, things went badly and he came to cutting reeds, the shore of Naniwa grows all the harder to live on. The headnote shows that a woman who went to Naniwa for a purification met on the road a man she had once been close to, now a ragged reed-cutter, and when she, as though not recognizing him, sent word of how long it had been since they met, the man composed this poem. Pivoting on "ashikari," "things went ill" and "reed-cutting," he laments his fallen state since their parting. Together with the woman's reply in the next poem, 541, it forms an exchange.
This story appears in the Tales of Yamato, in the episode of the reed-cutter, as the tale of a parted couple.

First line, "kimi nakute," means "without you."
Second line, "ashikarikeri to," is a pivot word: "ashikari" means "things went ill" and "cutting reeds." It layers a life gone bad with becoming a reed-cutter. It uses the same pivot as the fourth line of 538 in this book, "ashikaru waza o."
Third line, "omou ni mo," means "as I think of it."
Fourth line, "itodo Naniwa no," means "all the more, of Naniwa," taking up the place name Naniwa that has run on from 537, three poems earlier.
Final line, "ura zo sumiuki," means "the shore is hard to live on," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive form of the adjective "sumiushi." It contrasts with "Sumiyoshi" in the fourth line of the preceding poem, 539, and is carried over intact into the final line of the next poem, 541, "ura wa sumiuki."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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