Nakina nomi Tatsu no ichi to wa sawagedomo isa mada hito o uru yoshi mo nashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

無き名のみたつの市とは騒げども
いさまだ人をうるよしもなし

Roma-ji: Nakina nomi Tatsu no ichi to wa sawagedomo isa mada hito o uru yoshi mo nashi
English Translation: Only groundless rumor
rises, like the Tatsu market,
so the people clamor,
but, well, I still have no means
of gaining her in that trade.
Meaning: People clamor that only groundless rumor rises, like the market of Tatsu, yet, well, I still have no means to win her.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 700

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that people clamor as though at the market of Tatsu, where only groundless rumor rises, yet the poet still has no means of winning the one he loves. Pivoting "tatsu" on a rumor "rising" and the market of Tatsu, and "uru" on "selling" at a market and "gaining" a person, it lays the noise of rumor over the bustle of the market. In a playful tone it laments that rumor alone has run ahead while the love itself has not advanced at all.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Shūishū includes many Man'yōshū poems under his name.

First line, "nakina nomi," means "only a groundless rumor," the same line as the first line of the preceding poem, 699, "nakina nomi."
Second line, "Tatsu no ichi to wa," is a pivot word: "tatsu" means a rumor "rising" and the market of Tatsu in Yamato. It uses the same pivot on "tatsu" as the second line of the preceding poem, "Tatsuta no yama no."
Third line, "sawagedomo," means "though people clamor," with "domo" concessive, laying the noise of rumor over the bustle of the market.
Fourth line, "isa mada hito o," means "well, as yet, her," with "isa" a word lightly brushing aside what others say.
Final line, "uru yoshi mo nashi," is a pivot word: "uru" means "selling" at the market and "gaining" a person, an associated word for the market.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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