Arachio no karu ya no saki ni tatsu shika mo ito ware bakari mono wa omowaji - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あらち男の狩る矢の先に立つ鹿も
いと我ばかり物は思はじ

Roma-ji: Arachio no karu ya no saki ni tatsu shika mo ito ware bakari mono wa omowaji
English Translation: Even the deer that
stands before the hunting shaft
of a fearless man
would not, I think, ever brood
so deeply as I do now.
Meaning: Even a deer standing before the arrow of a fearless hunter would not, I think, brood as deeply as I do.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 954

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that even the deer standing before the arrow of a fierce hunter would not brood as deeply as I do. Comparing it even to the terror of a deer whose life is in danger, it strongly asserts that one's own suffering in love is greater still.
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.

First line, "arachio no," means "of a fierce man," here a hunter.
Second line, "karu ya no saki ni," means "before the hunting arrow."
Third line, "tatsu shika mo," means "even the deer standing there," with "mo" meaning "even."
Fourth line, "ito ware bakari," means "as greatly as I." It shares the words "ware bakari" with the first line of 995 in this book.
Final line, "mono wa omowaji," means "would not brood," with "ji" a negative conjecture. It shares "omowaji" with the fourth line of the next poem, 955, "ware wa omowaji."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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