Au koto no Katano ni ima wa narinureba omou kari nomi yuku ni ya aruramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことのかたのに今はなりぬれば
思ふかりのみ行くにやあるらむ

Roma-ji: Au koto no Katano ni ima wa narinureba omou kari nomi yuku ni ya aruramu
English Translation: Since meeting has now
become as hard as Katano,
far beyond my reach,
is it only my longing
that goes hunting there, I wonder
Meaning: Since meeting has become as hard to reach as the hunting fields of Katano, is it only my longing that goes out to hunt there?
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 502

Now that meeting has become hard, the poet wonders whether only his longing goes to the beloved, as hunters go to Katano, famed for its hunting grounds. Punning on kata, hard, and Katano, the poem conveys through the hunt at Katano a love in which the body cannot meet and only the heart goes forth.
Like poems 500 and 501 in this book, it puns on the sound kata for the difficulty of meeting.

First line, 'au koto no', means meeting.
Second line, 'Katano ni ima wa', is a pivot word in which katano means both meeting being hard and Katano, a famous hunting ground in Kawachi, left in kana.
Third line, 'narinureba', means since it has become so, with nure, the perfective form of the perfective nu, followed by ba expressing a cause.
Fourth line, 'omou kari nomi', uses kari, the hunt, tied to Katano, expressing longing alone setting out as if on a hunt.
Final line, 'yuku ni ya aruramu', means does it go, I wonder, guessing with ni, the continuative of the assertive nari, the particle ya and the conjectural ramu.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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