Ikade nao ajiro no hio ni koto towamu nani ni yorite ka ware o towanu to - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかで猶網代の氷魚に言問はむ
何によりてか我を訪はぬと

Roma-ji: Ikade nao ajiro no hio ni koto towamu nani ni yorite ka ware o towanu to
English Translation: Somehow, all the same,
to the ice-fish of the weirs
I would put a question:
what is it that draws you there,
that you never come to me?
Meaning: Somehow I would still like to ask the ice-fish at the weirs: what is it that they draw near to, and why is it that he does not come to visit me?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1134

Headnote: "When a man serving in the Chamberlains' Office said he had gone as an envoy for the ice-fish, yet sent no word though he was in the capital"
The poet says she would like somehow to ask the ice-fish at the weirs why it is that he does not come to visit her. The headnote shows it was composed when a man serving in the Chamberlains' Office said he had gone as an envoy to collect the ice-fish, yet, though he was actually in the capital, sent her no word. Questioning the ice-fish at the weirs, she reproaches with irony the man who uses the ice-fish errand as an excuse not to visit.
The author is Shuri, a woman known by the court name Shuri, of whom little is known.

First line, "ikade nao," means "somehow, all the same," sharing the same line with the third line of 1137 in this book, "ikade nao."
Second line, "ajiro no hio ni," means "to the ice-fish at the weirs," sharing the same words with the fourth line of the preceding poem, 1133, "ajiro ni hio no."
Third line, "koto towamu," means "I would ask," with "mu" an auxiliary of intention. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "nani ni yorite ka," turns on the pivot word "yori," joining "yoru," the ice-fish drawing near the weirs, and "yoru," because of, so that it means "for what reason." "Ka" is a questioning binding particle. It echoes the final line of the preceding poem, 1133, "yoru mo miekeri," through the word "yoru."
Final line, "ware o towanu to," means "that you do not visit me," with "nu," the attributive form of the negative "zu," resolving the "ka" of the fourth line.
Author: Shuri
Source: Shui Wakashu
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