Ama to iedo ika naru ama no mi nareba ka yo ni ninu shio o tarewataruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あまといへどいかなるあまの身なればか
世に似ぬしほをたれわたるらん

Roma-ji: Ama to iedo ika naru ama no mi nareba ka yo ni ninu shio o tarewataruran
English Translation: Though she is a nun,
what sort of fisherwoman
must she be, that so
like no other in this world
her brine keeps dripping down?
Meaning: She has become a nun, yet what sort of fisherwoman must she be, that brine like no other in this world keeps streaming from her, as her tears?
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1298

Headnote: "After the wife of Lord Kentoku had lost her two sons"
The poet asks what sort of fisherwoman, though a nun, she must be, that she keeps dripping brine like no other in the world. The headnote shows it concerns the wife of Lord Kentoku, Fujiwara no Koretada, after she lost two children. Koretada's sons Takakata and Yoshitaka died of smallpox on the same day in Ten'en 2 (974). Laying the mother who took vows as a nun over a fisherwoman wet with brine, and pivoting on "ama," nun and fisherwoman, and on brine and tears, it sings of the matchless grief of losing two children at once.

First line, "ama to iedo," is a pivot word: "ama" means "nun" and "fisherwoman." It means "though she is called a nun."
Second line, "ika naru ama no," means "what sort of fisherwoman," repeating "ama" from the first line.
Third line, "mi nareba ka," means "is it because she is," a hypermetric line of six syllables. The binding particle "ka" is resolved by the attributive "ran" in the final line.
Fourth line, "yo ni ninu shio o," means "brine unlike any in the world," laying tears over brine.
Final line, "tarewataruran," means "keeps dripping," which together with "shio" in the fourth line echoes "shiotaru," to be wet with tears.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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