Obotsukana Uruma no shima no hito nare ya waga kotonoha o shiranu kao naru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おぼつかなうるまの島の人なれや
我が言の葉を知らぬ顔なる

Roma-ji: Obotsukana Uruma no shima no hito nare ya waga kotonoha o shiranu kao naru
English Translation: How it troubles me:
are you one of those who come
from the Isle of Uruma?
For you wear a face as though
my words meant nothing to you
Meaning: How uneasy you make me. Are you someone from the Isle of Uruma? You look at my words as though you could not understand a single one.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 657

Headnote: "Sent to a woman who did not answer, at the time when it was said that people from the Isle of Uruma had drifted here and could not understand what the people here said"
Sent to a woman who would not reply, at a time when it was said that people from the Isle of Uruma had drifted ashore and could not understand the speech of this land. How troubling, he says; are you one of the people of Uruma? You wear a face as though you do not know my words. Deftly taking up the talk of foreigners who could not understand the language, he likens the woman who never answers however many poems he sends to the islanders who cannot understand, mixing a light reproach with teasing. The Isle of Uruma is thought to be Ulleungdo, east of Silla.
The author, "Former Major Counselor Kintō," is Fujiwara no Kintō. The son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Yoritada, he rose to Provisional Major Counselor. Gifted in Japanese poetry, Chinese verse and music alike, he compiled the Wakan Rōeishū. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Poems 660 and 685 of this book also speak of "kotonoha," "words," so that poems about the words of love appear here and there.

First line, "obotsukana": the stem of the adjective "obotsukanashi," used as an exclamation, "how troubling." The poem pauses here.
Second line, "Uruma no shima no": the Isle of Uruma is a foreign island thought to be Ulleungdo off Silla.
Third line, "hito nare ya": "nare ya" is the perfective of the copula "nari" with the binding particle "ya," "are you one of them?"
Fourth line, "waga kotonoha o": "kotonoha" means words, here the poems he has sent. It is the same word as "kotonoha mo" in the third line of 660.
Fifth line, "shiranu kao naru": "wearing a face that does not know," closing in the attributive in answer to the "ya" of the third line. It overlays not understanding the language and pretending not to know.
Author: Fujiwara no Kintō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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