Minatoiri no ashiwake obune sawari ōmi waga omou hito ni awanu koro kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

湊入りの葦分け小舟障り多み
我が思ふ人に逢はぬころかな

Roma-ji: Minatoiri no ashiwake obune sawari ōmi waga omou hito ni awanu koro kana
English Translation: Like a little boat
parting the reeds to enter
the harbor, so many
the hindrances—with the one I love
these days I cannot meet.
Meaning: Like a small boat struggling through the reeds at the harbor mouth, there are so many things in my way that I cannot meet the one I love these days.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 853

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem laments that, like a small boat pushing through the reeds to enter the harbor mouth and finding its way blocked, there are so many hindrances that these days one cannot meet the beloved. It lays the frustration of a love that will not go as wished over the image of a small boat struggling through the reed beds.
The author, "Hitomaro", is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a court poet of the Asuka period revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Many Man'yōshū poems are included in the Shūishū under Hitomaro's name.
A similar poem appears in Book Eleven of the Man'yōshū with the final line "awanu koro kamo."

First line, "minatoiri no," means "entering the harbor mouth." It is a hypermetric line with one extra syllable.
Second line, "ashiwake obune," means "a small boat parting the reeds." The first two lines form a preface leading to "sawari ōmi" in the third line. Along with "ashibi," reed fires, in 887 and "ashine," reed roots, in 893 of this book, it uses the reeds that call Naniwa to mind.
Third line, "sawari ōmi," means "since the hindrances are many," with "mi" a suffix of cause. It joins what blocks the little boat with what stands in the way of love.
Fourth line, "waga omou hito ni," means "the one I long for."
Final line, "awanu koro kana," means "these days when I cannot meet," with "kana" expressing exclamation.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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