Fuetake no ana asamashi no yo no naka ya arishi ya fushi no kagiri naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

笛竹のあなあさましのよの中や
ありしやふしの限りなるらん

Roma-ji: Fuetake no ana asamashi no yo no naka ya arishi ya fushi no kagiri naruran
English Translation: Like a flute of bamboo,
ah, how wretched it has grown,
this bond between us;
was that night we lay as one
the last joint we shall know?
Meaning: Ah, how wretched this bond between us has become! Was the time we once lay together the last we shall ever share?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1191

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem among the hundred poems of Emperor Horikawa's reign"
He composed this as a love poem in the hundred-poem sequence of Emperor Horikawa's reign. Ah, how wretched our bond; was the time we once lay together the last? he says. From the "flute bamboo" of the first line he strings together words associated with it, "ana," the finger hole, "yo," the section between joints, and "fushi," the joint, laying over each the senses "ana," ah, "yo," the bond between lovers, and "fushi," lying together, and laments a love broken off through this playful technique.
The author, "Fujiwara no Mototoshi," was a son of the Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toshiie. He was ranked alongside Minamoto no Toshiyori in the poetry circle of Emperor Horikawa.
It is the twelfth of the humorous poems.

First line, "fuetake no": the bamboo from which flutes are made, drawing in the associated words that follow. It is the same phrase as "fuetake no" in the first line of 1196 in this book, and both use wordplay drawn from the flute bamboo.
Second line, "ana asamashi no": "ana," the exclamation "ah," plays on the finger hole of the flute. "Asamashi" means appallingly wretched.
Third line, "yo no naka ya": "yo no naka" means the bond between lovers, and "yo" plays on the section between the joints of bamboo. "Ya" is an exclamatory interjectory particle, and the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "arishi ya fushi no": "arishi" means former, of before, and "fushi" plays on lying together and the joint of the bamboo.
Fifth line, "kagiri naruran": "is it the last?" with "ran" the auxiliary of present conjecture.
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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