Araiso no hoka yuku nami no hokagokoro ware wa omowaji koi wa shinu tomo - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

荒磯の外行く波の外心
我は思はじ恋ひは死ぬとも

Roma-ji: Araiso no hoka yuku nami no hokagokoro ware wa omowaji koi wa shinu tomo
English Translation: Like the rolling waves
that pass beyond the rough shore,
a heart that wanders
I will never come to hold,
though love should be my death.
Meaning: Like waves that drift away beyond the rough shore—such a wandering heart I will never have, even if this love should be the death of me.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 955

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says: I will never have a heart that wanders elsewhere like the waves passing beyond the rough shore, even if I die of love. It sings of a single-hearted vow, staked on one's life, never to turn to anyone else.
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 first line "araiso koshi" and the final line "koite shinu tomo."

First line, "araiso no," means "of the rough, wave-beaten shore."
Second line, "hoka yuku nami no," means "of waves passing away outward." The first two lines form an introductory phrase that, repeating "hoka," leads to "hokagokoro" in the third line.
Third line, "hokagokoro," means "a heart that turns elsewhere, a fickle heart."
Fourth line, "ware wa omowaji," means "I will not hold it," with "ji" a negative intention. The poem breaks here. It shares "omowaji" with the final line of the preceding poem, 954, "mono wa omowaji."
Final line, "koi wa shinu tomo," means "even if I die of love," adding by inversion to the strength of the vow in the fourth line. It shares the theme of dying of love with 935 through 937 in this book.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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