Minatogawa ukine no toko ni kikoyu nari Ikuta no oku no saoshika no koe - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

湊川うきねの床に聞こゆなり
生田の奥のさを鹿の声

Roma-ji: Minatogawa ukine no toko ni kikoyu nari Ikuta no oku no saoshika no koe
English Translation: On Minato River,
to my bed of floating sleep
I hear it carried,
from deep within Ikuta,
the crying of the stag
Meaning: To my bed as I lie afloat on the Minato River comes the cry of a stag from deep within Ikuta.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 312

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Hearing Deer While Moored at Night'"
Composed on the topic "Hearing Deer While Moored at Night." To the bed where the poet lies afloat on a boat moored in the Minato River comes the cry of a stag deep in the woods of Ikuta. In the deer's voice reaching the traveler on the water from far inland, he layers the hardship of sleeping on a journey with the loneliness of autumn.
The author, "Gyōbukyō Norikane," is Fujiwara no Norikane, son of Fujiwara no Yoshikane, who rose to Minister of Justice. Versed in poetic learning, he wrote the treatise Waka Dōmōshō.
This poem and the following through 315 form a run of four on the topic "Hearing Deer While Moored at Night," the deer's voice heard while lying aboard a boat at night.

First line, "Minatogawa": a river in Settsu, showing where the boat is moored. The fourth poem of the run, 315, opens with the same line.
Second line, "ukine no toko ni": "ukine" is a pivot word meaning both "floating sleep" on the water and "sorrowful sleep." The next poem, 313, also speaks of "ukine."
Third line, "kikoyu nari": "nari" infers from sound. The poem pauses here, inverted so that what is heard is named in the lower verse. The next poem, 313, has the same third line.
Fourth line, "Ikuta no oku no": Ikuta is a place in Settsu known for its forest, pointing further inland from the Minato River.
Fifth line, "saoshika no koe": the poem ends on a noun, naming at last what is heard. The third poem of the run, 314, and 325, which closes the deer poems, share this last line.
Author: Fujiwara no Norikane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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