Kasugano no wakamurasaki no surigoromo shinobu no midare kagiri shirarezu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春日野の若紫の摺り衣
しのぶの乱れ限り知られず

Roma-ji: Kasugano no wakamurasaki no surigoromo shinobu no midare kagiri shirarezu
English Translation: Kasuga moor's
young murasaki has dyed
this printed robe:
like its tangled shinobu,
my heart knows no end of it
Meaning: Like the tangled pattern of this robe printed with the young murasaki of Kasuga moor, the turmoil of my secret longing knows no bounds.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 994

Headnote: "Sent to a woman."
This is the first of two poems sent to women that draw on the dye of murasaki. Through the tangled pattern of a robe printed with young murasaki from Kasuga moor, the poet sings of a heart thrown into boundless disorder. According to the headnote, it was sent to a woman.
The author, "Ariwara no Narihira Ason," was a son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei. He is counted among the Six Poetic Immortals and has long been taken as the hero of The Tales of Ise.
The Tales of Ise states that the poem follows the spirit of a poem by Minamoto no Tōru, the Kawara Minister of the Left: "Michinoku no / shinobu mojizuri / tare yue ni / midaresomenishi / ware naranaku ni."

In the first line, Kasuga moor spreads at the foot of Mount Kasuga in Yamato, a poetic place known for gathering young greens.
The second line, "wakamurasaki," means young murasaki, the gromwell whose root yields a purple dye. It quietly points to the young and lovely sisters glimpsed through the fence.
The third line, "surigoromo," is a robe patterned by rubbing plant juices into the cloth. The first three lines form a preface leading to "shinobu no midare."
In the fourth line, "shinobu" pivots between shinobu-zuri, the printed cloth said to come from Shinobu District in Michinoku, and secret longing. The tangled pattern of the print is laid over a heart in turmoil.
The last line, "kagiri shirarezu," means "knows no bounds." "Midare" takes up "midaresomenishi" from the Kawara Minister's poem, and murasaki, printed robe, and tangle run together as associated words of dyeing. Against the distant and hidden loves since the start of the book, here is a love declared at the very moment of the glimpse, and it is bound to the next poem, by Emperor Daigo, through the color of murasaki.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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