Nageki koru hito iru yama no ono no e no hotohotoshiku mo narinikeru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

なげき樵る人入る山の斧の柄の
ほとほとしくもなりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Nageki koru hito iru yama no ono no e no hotohotoshiku mo narinikeru kana
English Translation: Like the woodsmen's axe
felling firewood, grief on grief,
in the mountains, ringing
hoto, hoto—close to death,
so near it I have come.
Meaning: Like the axe of woodsmen cutting firewood in the mountains, ringing hoto, hoto, I have piled grief upon grief until I am close to death.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 913

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that just as an axe swung in the mountains by woodcutters goes "hoto hoto," I have piled grief upon grief until I am close to dying. Setting "nageki," grief, on "nageki," firewood, and drawing from the axe's sound "hoto hoto" the word "hotohotoshi," near death, it sings of a self driven to the edge by love.

First line, "nageki koru," means "cutting firewood," with "nageki" a pivot word joining "nageki," firewood, and "nageki," grief. With the first line of the preceding poem, 912, "nagekitsutsu," two poems beginning with "nageki" stand side by side.
Second line, "hito iru yama no," means "of the mountain people enter." It shares the entering of mountains with "irishi okuyama" in the next poem, 914.
Third line, "ono no e no," means "of the axe handle." From the first line to here forms a preface leading, from the sound of an axe cutting wood, to "hotohoto."
Fourth line, "hotohotoshiku mo," means "close to death," echoing the axe's sound "hoto hoto."
Final line, "narinikeru kana," means "I have come to be," with "kana" expressing exclamation.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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