Yamashiro no Mizuno no sato ni imo o okite ikutabi Yodo ni fune yobauran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山城の美豆野の里に妹を置きて
いくたび淀に舟呼ばふらん

Roma-ji: Yamashiro no Mizuno no sato ni imo o okite ikutabi Yodo ni fune yobauran
English Translation: In Yamashiro,
in the village of Mizuno,
I leave my love behind—
how many times at Yodo
shall I call out for the boat
Meaning: Leaving my love behind in the village of Mizuno in Yamashiro, how many times, I wonder, shall I call for the boat at Yodo?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 887

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'love separated by a river'"
This poem was composed on the topic "love separated by a river." Leaving my love in the village of Mizuno in Yamashiro, he says, how many times shall I call for the boat at Yodo? To visit his beloved who lives in Mizuno across the Yodo River, he must call for the boat at the Yodo crossing each time, and the poem conveys the inconvenience of a love divided by a river and the depth of feeling that keeps him coming. Stringing concrete place names together, it depicts the scene of crossing the river to visit the beloved.
The author, "Former Provisional Master of the Western Capital Yorimasa," was Minamoto no Yorimasa. The son of Minamoto no Nakamasa of the Settsu Genji, he rose to Junior Third Rank. He later raised troops with Prince Mochihito to overthrow the Taira, was defeated at Uji and took his own life. He was also renowned as a poet.
Poems 889 and 890 in this book sing of a "nakagawa," a river between, so that love poems concerning rivers are placed close together.

First line, "Yamashiro no": the province of Yamashiro, showing where Mizuno in the second line lies.
Second line, "Mizuno no sato ni": "Mizuno" is a place in Yamashiro, on the banks of the Yodo River.
Third line, "imo o okite": "imo" is a man's affectionate word for his beloved or wife. The line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, "ikutabi Yodo ni": "Yodo" is a place in Yamashiro where there was a crossing of the Yodo River. "Ikutabi" means "how many times," answering "ran" in the last line.
Fifth line, "fune yobauran": "yobau" means to call again and again, and "ran" is an auxiliary of present conjecture. "How many times shall I call for the boat": it closes with the lament of a love divided by a river.
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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