[46] ゆら (Yura)

 Poem Meaning and Background

「木曽川」 (Kiso River) by Yoshida Hiroshi

ゆらのとを・わたるふなびと・かぢをたえ

Yura no to o・wataru funabito・kaji o tae

ゆくへもしらぬ・こひのみちかな

yukue mo shiranu・koi no michi kana

〜曽禰好忠 (Sone no Yoshitada)

Translation

Like a mariner

Sailing over Yura's strait

With his paddle gone:

Where, over the deep of love,

The end lies, I do not know.

Meaning

The author of this poem imagines a situation where a boater has dropped their paddle and is now stuck floating along the current without any way to steer. This predicament is expressed in the first verse of the poem, while the second verse expresses that this situation is a metaphor for the author's "path of love". The author highlights the anxiety being in love but not knowing what will happen next, and the helplessness being caught up in the flow of something larger than yourself, with little control over the final destination. 

In the first line, 由良の門 (Yura no to) refers to "Yura's strait", which is where Kyoto's Yura River flows into Wakasa Bay. At the end of the first verse, かぢを絶え (kaji o tae) means that the oar or scull of the boat has disappeared. Some also interpret the かじ (kaji) part of this line to be referencing specifically the rope which ties the oar to the boat. In the second verse, 行くへも知らぬ (yukue mo shiranu) has a double meaning of not knowing the destination but also not knowing the future. 

Author

A depiction of the author and
his poem by the artist Agameishi

Sone no Yoshitada (dates unknown) was a well known waka poet in the mid-Heian Period. He is regarded as one of the 36 Immortals of Poetry and at least 90 of his poems were published in several imperial poetry anthologies. He was low ranking court official in 丹後国（Tango no kuni), located in what is now northern Kyoto, and as such he was sometimes referred to by the nicknames Sotango or Sotan. He was also apparently considered to be a bit of an eccentric.