Asamashi ya sa nomi wa ikani Shinano naru Kisoji no hashi no kakewataruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あさましやさのみはいかにしなのなる
木曽路の橋のかけわたるらん

Roma-ji: Asamashi ya sa nomi wa ikani Shinano naru Kisoji no hashi no kakewataruran
English Translation: How dismaying!
Why must it be so, like those
in Shinano, the
bridges of the Kiso Road,
your heart strung out to so many
Meaning: How dismaying! Why must you, like the plank bridges strung along the Kiso Road in Shinano, stretch your heart out to so many?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 862

Headnote: "Sent to a woman when it was said that many men visited her"
This poem was sent to a woman of whom it was rumored that many men visited her. How dismaying, he says; why must you, like the bridges along the Kiso Road in Shinano, stretch your heart across to so many? Overlaying the plank bridges strung along the cliffs of the steep Kiso Road with the woman setting her heart on many men, it sings of dismay and jealousy at her many lovers.
The author, "Taira no Saneshige," was a figure of the late Heian period. The details of his career are not clear.

First line, "asamashi ya": "asamashi" means dismayed at the unexpected, and "ya" is an exclamatory particle. The poem pauses here.
Second line, "sa nomi wa ikani": "sa nomi" means "so much, to such a degree," and "ikani" is an interrogative adverb. It answers "ran" in the last line.
Third line, "Shinano naru": "Shinano" is the province, and "naru" the attributive of the auxiliary "nari" of location, "which is in Shinano."
Fourth line, "Kisoji no hashi no": "Kisoji" is the steep mountain road through Shinano, and "hashi" the plank bridges laid along the cliffs, the famed hanging bridges of Kiso.
Fifth line, "kakewataruran": "kakewataru" pivots between bridges "being strung across" and her heart "being set across" to many. "Ran" is an auxiliary conjecturing a present cause, "why should they be strung across."
Author: Taira no Saneshige
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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