[44] あふこ (Ooko)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Depiction of Asatada's Poem by Hokusai

あふことの・たえてしなくは・なかなかに

ou koto no・taete shi nakuba・nakanaka ni

ひとをもみをも・うらみざらまし

hito o mo mi o mo・urami zaramashi

〜中納言朝忠（Chūnagon Asatada）

Translation

How I wish it were,

Instead, that we had never met

As opposed to now,

When I think of you and me,
Hating both so bitterly

-Translation by me

If there were no such things
as ever having met her, then,
contrary to all expectations,
neither her coldness nor my pain
would I have to resent!

~Professor Mostow's translation

 *Translation note: I found that some of the English translations interpret this poem far differently. I've attempted to translate this poem in accordance with my understanding of the poem, and also included a second translation for comparison.

Meaning

This particular poem was also written for the same poetry contest that the poets of [40] Shino and [41] Koi participated in. The author of this poem was given a specific theme for this love poem: "Write about a love where the lovers have meet once, but are unable to meet again". Here, the author chooses to express the regret of a man whose lover has rejected him after their first meeting. As opposed to the classic line by the poet Tennyson: " 'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all", the speaker in this poem is saying that he would not have had to experience such intense feelings of bitterness if the two had never met in the first place. This poem conveys the complex mix of self-pity, regret, and resentment that can accompany a breakup that was not entirely mutual. 

In the first line, 逢ふこと(aukoto: pronounced "ookoto" in Competitive Karuta), refers to a man and woman spending the night together. This meeting is typically when lovers would confirm their devotion to one another. 絶えてしなくは (taete shinaku wa) means "if it were not the case", in other words, if the two had not met and spent the night together. なかなかに (nakanaka ni) means "on the contrary", so as opposed to the speaker's current reality. In the second verse, 人をも身をも(hito o mo mi o mo) means both his lover and himself. The last line 恨みざらまし (urami zaramashi) means the author is supposing that he wouldn't feel bitterness. Taken together, it means essentially "If only we hadn't spent the night together, then I probably wouldn't feel such bitterness towards you and myself the way I do now".

The artist Hokusai made a print of this poem, which can be seen at the top of the page. In it, the subject of the print seems to be performing a curse ritual known as 牛の時参り(ushi no toki mairi), in which a person curses the target by nailing a straw doll to a sacred tree inside a shrine late at night. Typically, this type of curse was performed by a woman who had been scorned. More about this curse can be read on Wikipedia. 

Author

Fujiwara no Asatada (910 - 966) is considered one of the 36 Immortals of Poetry. He is the son of Fujiwara no Sadakata, author of poem [25] Nanishi. He was also famous for his skill at playing Japanese instruments such as 笛（fue; a type of flute), and 笙（shou; a type of wind instrument resembling panpipes). 

Here's an example of several traditional Japanese flutes being played:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T1pyZZiBO0e