Yama wa sake umi wa asenamu yo nari tomo kimi ni futagokoro ware arame ya mo

山は裂け海は浅せなむ世なりとも
君に二心われあらめやも

Roma-ji: Yama wa sake umi wa asenamu yo nari tomo kimi ni futagokoro ware arame ya mo
English Translation: Though mountains split
and the sea run dry and shallow
in this world of ours,
would I ever bear my lord
a heart that is divided?
Meaning: Even in a world where mountains split apart and the seas dry up, could I ever harbour a divided heart toward my lord?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 677

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem on receiving a letter from the Retired Emperor"
Even if mountains split and seas run dry, the poet vows he could never bear a disloyal heart toward his lord, swearing loyalty to Go-Toba. Invoking upheavals of heaven and earth to show the firmness of his vow, its grand and forceful cadence makes it one of Sanetomo's most famous poems.
It was included in the imperial anthology Shinchokusen Wakashū. The Jōkyō text and the text transmitted by Teika read line 5 as waga arame ya mo, the Ruijū text as arame ya mo; Saitō Mokichi's revised edition notes that it should for now be read ware, which is followed here. Kamo no Mabuchi gave it a double mark of praise, calling its manliness the very oath of a great man.

Line 1 means "though the mountains split."
Line 2 means "and the seas dry up," namu combining intensive na with conjectural mu, parallel with line 1.
Line 3 means "even in such a world," tomo concessive.
Line 4 means "a divided heart toward my lord," eight syllables; against "though my heart be divided" in the preceding poem, it vows an undivided heart.
Line 5 means "would I have it?" ya mo rhetorical, ending in the same form as the preceding poem.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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