Inochi o ba au ni kau to ka kikishikado ware ya tameshi ni awanu shini sen - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

命をば逢ふにかふとか聞きしかど
我やためしに逢はぬ死にせん

Roma-ji: Inochi o ba au ni kau to ka kikishikado ware ya tameshi ni awanu shini sen
English Translation: Life, so I had heard,
is what one gives to meet;
yet shall I become
the example for the world
of one who died without meeting?
Meaning: I have heard that people give their lives in exchange for a meeting; yet shall I become the first example of one who dies without ever meeting?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 682

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that the poet had heard that one gives one's life in exchange for a meeting, yet he may become the example of one who dies without meeting. It expresses the despair that even giving up one's life may not bring a meeting, in the form of becoming an "example" contrary to what the world says. With phrasing that seems to take up "au ni wa mi o mo kau to koso kike" of 675, it is, together with 684, a poem built on the device of exchanging life for a meeting.

First line, "inochi o ba," means "life," with "ba" strengthening "o."
Second line, "au ni kau to ka," means "that one exchanges it for meeting," with "to ka" marking hearsay. It shares the device of the fourth and final lines of 675, "au ni wa mi o mo kau to koso kike," and connects with the final line of 684, "au ni kaeten."
Third line, "kikishikado," means "though I had heard," with "shika" the perfective form of the past auxiliary "ki."
Fourth line, "ware ya tameshi ni," means "shall I, as the example," with the binding particle "ya" interrogative and resolved by the attributive "n" in the final line.
Final line, "awanu shini sen," means "die without meeting." It echoes "aiminu hodo ni koishinaba" of 655 in its fear of dying without meeting.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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