Kazu naranu mi o Ujikawa no ajirogi ni ōku no hi o mo sugushitsuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数ならぬ身をうち河の網代木に
多くのひをも過ぐしつるかな

Roma-ji: Kazu naranu mi o Ujikawa no ajirogi ni ōku no hi o mo sugushitsuru kana
English Translation: Thinking my worthless
self so wretched, at the weirs
of the Uji River,
like the ice fish, so many
days have I let pass away.
Meaning: Thinking my worthless self so wretched, I have let so many days pass, like the ice fish awaited at the weir posts of the Uji River.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 843

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent to a woman"
The poem says that, thinking one's worthless self wretched, one has spent many days waiting, as the fish weir posts of the Uji River wait for the ice fish. The headnote shows it was sent to a woman. Over the winter scene of the Uji River, where ice fish are awaited at the weirs, it lays the months spent waiting in vain for the woman's heart to turn.

First line, "kazu naranu," means "worthless," not worth counting.
Second line, "mi o Ujikawa no," is a pivot word: "u" means feeling oneself "wretched," and "Uji," the Uji River, a poetic place in Yamashiro.
Third line, "ajirogi ni," means "at the posts of the fish weir." The weir was a winter feature of the Uji River, set to catch ice fish.
Fourth line, "ōku no hi o mo," is a pivot word: "hio" means "days" and "hio," the ice fish caught in the weir.
Final line, "sugushitsuru kana," means "how I have passed them," with "tsuru" the attributive form of the perfective "tsu" and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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