Isonokami Furu no wasada no ho ni wa idezu kokoro no uchi ni koi ya wataran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

石上布留の早稲田のほには出でず
心のうちに恋ひやわたらん

Roma-ji: Isonokami Furu no wasada no ho ni wa idezu kokoro no uchi ni koi ya wataran
English Translation: Isonokami,
at Furu the early rice
that shows no ear:
so within my heart alone
must I go on loving still?
Meaning: Like the early rice of Furu in Isonokami that has not yet put forth its ears, must I go on loving only within my heart, never letting it show?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 993

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of two poems by Hitomaro on a love kept hidden in the heart. Through the ears of the early rice at Furu, the speaker wonders whether he must go on loving inwardly without ever letting it show. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Hitomaro," continues from the preceding poem and is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A poet of the Asuka period, he served as a court poet under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu and left many poems in the Man'yōshū. Later ages revered him as the saint of poetry.
Book Nine of the Man'yōshū contains the same poem with a different last line, "kouru kono koro," "loving in these days," composed by Nukike no Ōbito when he was posted to Tsukushi and took the maiden Himoko of Buzen as his wife. In the Shin Kokinshū it is included as a poem by Hitomaro.

The first line, "Isonokami," is a pillow word for the place name Furu.
In the second line, Furu lies in Yamabe District of Yamato, around the Isonokami Shrine, and "wasada" is a paddy of early-ripening rice. The first two lines form a preface leading to "ho."
In the third line, "ho" pivots between the ear of rice and what shows on the surface. Early rice is quick to put forth its ears, but the speaker's feeling does not show, a reversal of the image.
The fourth line, "kokoro no uchi ni," means "only within the heart," the other face of "ho ni wa idezu."
In the last line, "ya" poses a question resolved by "ran," and "wataru" means to go on doing. Where the Man'yōshū version speaks of present feeling, here the lament looks ahead to a love that will continue. Like "shitakogare" in the preceding poem, it sings of love kept hidden, and 1001, by Asatada, closes with the same last line.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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