Ashikare to omowanu yama no mine ni dani ou naru mono o hito no nageki wa - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

悪しかれと思はぬ山の峰にだに
生ふなるものを人のなげきは

Roma-ji: Ashikare to omowanu yama no mine ni dani ou naru mono o hito no nageki wa
English Translation: Even on the peaks
of mountains no one wishes ill,
they say, there grows
firewood to be cast away —
so too grows the grief of men
Meaning: They say that even on the peaks of mountains no one wishes harm, nageki — firewood — grows; so too does human grief.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 333

Since "nageki" (firewood) grows even on mountain peaks no one wishes ill, the poet says, human grief too arises of itself. Playing "nageki" as both firewood and lamentation, the poem conveys the depth of a grief that wells up without anyone to blame.

The first line, "ashikare to," uses the imperative of the adjective "ashi": may it fare ill.
The second line, "omowanu yama no," uses the attributive negative: a mountain no one wishes so.
The third line, "mine ni dani," uses "dani": even on its peak.
The fourth line, "ou naru mono o," combines the hearsay "nari" and the concessive "mono o": though it is said to grow.
The final line, "hito no nageki wa," is a pivot word joining "nageki" (firewood) and "nageki" (grief), giving by inversion the subject of the fourth line.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Shika Wakashu
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