Kazu naranu mi o Ujigawa no hashibashi to iwarenagara mo koiwataru kana - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数ならぬ身をうぢ川のはしばしと
言はれながらも恋ひわたるかな

Roma-ji: Kazu naranu mi o Ujigawa no hashibashi to iwarenagara mo koiwataru kana
English Translation: Though I count for naught
and bear my sorrow like Uji's
river and its bridges,
called a thing of little worth,
still I cross on, loving you
Meaning: Though I count for nothing and grieve over myself like the river at Uji, and am called a thing of no account like the ends of its bridges, still I go on loving you.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 509

Grieving over a self that counts for nothing, and called a person of no account like the ends of the bridges over the Uji River, the poet still goes on loving, as one crosses a bridge. Layering u, sorrowful, and Uji, hashibashi, bridges and the margins, and wataru, to cross and to go on, the poem conveys a heart that cannot give up a love above its station.
It shares its final line, koiwataru kana, with poem 431 in this book, and like koiwataru in poem 422, it echoes the crossing of a bridge in wataru.

First line, 'kazu naranu', means counting for nothing.
Second line, 'mi o Ujigawa no', is a pivot word in which uji means both finding oneself sorrowful and the Uji River, a famous place in Yamashiro, left in kana.
Third line, 'hashibashi to', is a pivot word in which hashibashi means both the bridges of the Uji River and the margins, a person of no account, left in kana.
Fourth line, 'iwarenagara mo', means even while being called so, using the passive ru and the concessive nagara.
Final line, 'koiwataru kana', means I go on loving, wataru echoing crossing a bridge and related to the bridges of the third line. It is the same as the final line of poem 431 in this book.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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