Yo to tomo ni yukukata mo naki kokoro kana koi wa michi naki mono ni zo arikeru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世とともに行く方もなき心かな
恋は道なきものにぞありける

Roma-ji: Yo to tomo ni yukukata mo naki kokoro kana koi wa michi naki mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: Ever and always,
with nowhere at all to go,
such is my heart:
love, I find, is truly
a thing without a road
Meaning: Ever and always my heart has nowhere to go; love, I find, is truly a thing without a road.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 790

Headnote: "Composed at a poetry contest held by the Nakanoin Minister of the Right when he was a Middle Captain"
Composed at a poetry contest held by Minamoto no Masasada, the Nakanoin Minister of the Right, when he was a Middle Captain. My heart, he says, has nowhere to go, ever and always; love, I find, is a thing without a road. Not knowing where to turn his longing, his heart wanders on and on, and by declaring that love has no road to follow, he expresses the way love offers no way out.
The author, "Akisue, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs," is Fujiwara no Akisue. The son of Fujiwara no Takatsune, he served Retired Emperor Shirakawa as a close retainer and was Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. He founded the Rokujō Fujiwara poetic house and is known for starting the Hitomaro Eigu, a ceremony honoring a portrait of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. "The Nakanoin Minister of the Right" in the headnote is Minamoto no Masasada, son of Grand Chancellor Minamoto no Masazane, who rose to Minister of the Right.

First line, "yo to tomo ni": "ever and always, without cease."
Second line, "yukukata mo naki": "yukukata" is the direction to go, a place to go.
Third line, "kokoro kana": "kana" is an exclamatory particle. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "koi wa michi naki": "love has no road to follow," restating "yukukata mo naki" in the second line as its reason.
Fifth line, "mono ni zo arikeru": "zo" is an emphatic particle that binds with the attributive "keru," which expresses realization, "is a thing, I find."
Author: Fujiwara no Akisue
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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