Funaoka no nonaka ni tateru ominaeshi watasanu hito wa araji to zo omou - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

船岡の野中に立てる女郎花
渡さぬ人はあらじとぞ思ふ

Roma-ji: Funaoka no nonaka ni tateru ominaeshi watasanu hito wa araji to zo omou
English Translation: On Funaoka's plain,
standing in the open fields,
the maidenflower,
no one would fail to ferry her,
so it seems to me, I think.
Meaning: The maidenflower standing in the fields of Funaoka: I think there is no one who would not ferry her across to himself, as the boat in that name suggests.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1100

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that there can be no one who would not take the maidenflower standing in the fields of Funaoka home to himself. Using "watasu," to ferry across, in keeping with "funa," boat, in the place name Funaoka, it expresses how everyone is drawn by the maidenflower's beauty. Treating the maidenflower as a woman, it overlays the image of a beautiful woman who attracts all hearts.

First line, "Funaoka no," means "of Funaoka," a hill to the north of the Heian capital.
Second line, "nonaka ni tateru," means "standing in the fields," with "ru" the attributive form of the continuative "ri."
Third line, "ominaeshi," is the same word as the third lines of 1097 and 1098 in this book and closes the series of maidenflower poems.
Fourth line, "watasanu hito wa," means "anyone who would not ferry her," with "watasu" associated with the "funa," boat, of "Funaoka," and taken to mean receiving the maidenflower to oneself.
Final line, "araji to zo omou," means "I think there is none," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture, and the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive form "omou."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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