Naniwae no ashi no karine no hitoyo yue miotsukushite ya koiwatarubeki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

難波江の葦のかりねのひとよゆゑ
みをつくしてや恋ひわたるべき

Roma-ji: Naniwae no ashi no karine no hitoyo yue miotsukushite ya koiwatarubeki
English Translation: For one night's short sleep,
brief as a joint of reed root
cut on Naniwa Bay,
must I spend my very self,
loving on and on like this?
Meaning: For a single night of makeshift sleep, short as a joint of reed root cut on Naniwa Bay, must I spend my whole self in love from now on, like the channel markers there?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 807

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Love met at a traveler's lodging' at a poetry contest held at the house of the Regent when he was Minister of the Right"
Composed at a poetry contest held at the house of the Regent Fujiwara no Kanezane when he was Minister of the Right, on the topic "love met at a traveler's lodging." For a single night of makeshift sleep, short as a joint of reed root cut on Naniwa Bay, she says, must I spend my whole self in love from now on, like the channel markers there? The fear that a brief, chance pledge of one night on a journey may become a love that consumes a lifetime is woven, through layered pivot words and associated words, into the things of Naniwa Bay, a poem of great artistry. It was taken by Fujiwara no Teika into the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The author, "Kōkamon'in no Bettō," was the daughter of Minamoto no Toshitaka, Assistant Master of the Grand Empress Dowager's Household. She served Kōkamon'in Fujiwara no Kiyoko, consort of Emperor Sutoku, who was an elder sister of the Regent Fujiwara no Kanezane of the headnote.

First line, "Naniwae no": "of Naniwa Bay," an inlet in Settsu famed for its reeds.
Second line, "ashi no karine no": "karine" pivots between "kari ne," the cut root of the reed, and "karine," makeshift sleep on a journey, giving the "traveler's lodging" of the topic.
Third line, "hitoyo yue": "hitoyo" pivots between "one joint" of reed and "one night," overlaying the shortness of a joint on the frailty of a single night's pledge, giving the "met" of the topic.
Fourth line, "miotsukushite ya": "miotsukushi" pivots between "miotsukushi," stakes marking a water channel, and "mi o tsukushi," spending oneself wholly. "Ya" is an interrogative particle that binds with "beki" in the last line.
Fifth line, "koiwatarubeki": "wataru," to go on doing, is an associated word of Naniwa Bay. "Beki" concludes "ya," "must I go on loving?"
Author: Kōkamon’in no Bettō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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