Yo no naka ni ayashiki mono wa ame furedo Ōharagawa no hiru ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中にあやしき物は雨降れど
大原河のひるにぞありける

Roma-ji: Yo no naka ni ayashiki mono wa ame furedo Ōharagawa no hiru ni zo arikeru
English Translation: The strangest thing
to be found in all the world:
though the rain may fall,
in the Ōhara River
there is still the "noonday" leech!
Meaning: The strangest thing in all the world, I find, is that even while the rain falls, there is a "hiru" in the Ōhara River, a leech that is also "noon."
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 550

Headnote: "On crossing the Ōhara River on a rainy day, when a leech attached itself to him"
The poet says that the strangest thing in the world is the leech of the Ōhara River, called "hiru," noon, though rain is falling. The headnote shows it was composed when, crossing the Ōhara River on a rainy day, a leech clung to him. Pivoting on "hiru," the creature "leech" and "noon," which calls up a bright day, he turns the mishap of being bitten into a joke about calling it "noon" on a rainy day. It carries on the delight in name and reality of the three preceding poems, and the river poems continue.
The author, Priest Egyō, was a monk of the mid-Heian period said to have served as lecturer at the provincial temple of Harima. He is one of the Thirty-Six Later Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "yaemugura" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "yo no naka ni," means "in all the world."
Second line, "ayashiki mono wa," means "the strangest thing," with the answer given in the final line.
Third line, "ame furedo," means "though rain falls," with "do" a concessive particle, set against "noon" in the final line.
Fourth line, "Ōharagawa no," means "of the Ōhara River." Following "Mikasa," "Umezugawa" and "Urushigawa" in 547 to 549, it sings of a place name, and it links through the word for river with the first line of the next poem, 551, "kawayanagi."
Final line, "hiru ni zo arikeru," is a pivot word: "hiru" means a "leech" and "noon." The binding particle "zo" is resolved by "keru," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "keri."
Author: The Monk Egyo
Source: Shui Wakashu
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