Watashimori haya fune kakuse hitotose ni futatabi kimasu kimi naranaku ni - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

渡し守はや舟隠せ一年に
二たび来ます君ならなくに

Roma-ji: Watashimori haya fune kakuse hitotose ni futatabi kimasu kimi naranaku ni
English Translation: O ferryman, quick,
hide away your boat from sight,
for not twice a year
does he come to visit me,
the one I love, not twice at all.
Meaning: Ferryman, hide your boat away, and quickly, for he is not one who comes to me twice in a single year.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1085

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
In the voice of the Weaver, the poet calls on the ferryman to hide his boat at once so that the Herdsman, who comes only once a year, cannot go home. The Weaver's aching sorrow at parting is expressed as a wish to hold him back even by hiding the boat.
Among the Tanabata poems of Book Ten of the Man'yōshū is a similar poem that calls on the ferryman to row the boat across quickly and has nearly the same lower verse.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, revered in later ages as the saint of poetry. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Shūishū includes many poems from the Man'yōshū and the Hitomaro Collection under his name.

First line, "watashimori," is an address to the boatman of the ferry.
Second line, "haya fune kakuse," means "quickly hide the boat," with "kakuse" in the imperative. The poem breaks after this second line.
Third line, "hitotose ni," means "in a year," pointing to the fact that the Tanabata meeting comes only once a year.
Fourth line, "futatabi kimasu," means "comes twice," with "kimasu" an honorific for "to come."
Final line, "kimi naranaku ni," means "for you are not one who does," with "nakuni," a negative form followed by "ni," expressing both reason and a sigh. It closes by giving the reason for the command in the second line. It takes up the "akanu wakare," the unfulfilled parting, of 1083 and 1084 before it as a wish to refuse the parting.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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