Omoiiru fukaki kokoro no tayori made mishi wa sore tomo naki yamaji kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おもひいる深き心のたよりまで
見しはそれともなき山路かな

Roma-ji: Omoiiru fukaki kokoro no tayori made mishi wa sore tomo naki yamaji kana
English Translation: Deep into longing,
deep into the hills I went,
and even the signs
of that deep heart I had marked
are lost on this mountain path.
Meaning: Deep in longing, I made my way deep into the mountains, and now even the signs I had noted to guide that deep heart can no longer be told apart on this mountain path.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1317

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'Love in the Deep Mountains,' at a poetry contest at the Bureau of Poetry."
This is the sixth and last poem of the sequence of love poems from the contests at the Bureau of Poetry and at Minase. Even the signs I noted to guide my deep heart as I went into the mountains, the speaker says, can no longer be recognized on this mountain path. Continuing from the preceding poem, it was composed on the topic "Love in the Deep Mountains" at a poetry contest at the Bureau of Poetry.
The author, "Fujiwara no Hideyoshi," served Retired Emperor Go-Toba as a guard of the north quarter and was esteemed as a poet; after the Jōkyū War he took holy orders under the name Nyogan.

The first line, "omoiiru," is a pivot word meaning both "to be deep in longing" and "to go deep into the mountains."
The second line, "fukaki kokoro no," means "of the deep heart," overlaying the depth of the mountains with the depth of love.
The third line, "tayori made," means "even the signs." It refers to landmarks kept in mind as guides on the way to the beloved.
The fourth line, "mishi wa sore tomo," means "what I had seen, as that very thing," running on into the last line.
The last line, "naki yamaji kana," is an exclamation: "a mountain path where they can no longer be recognized." Where Ietaka in the preceding poem lamented being unvisited in the deep mountains, this poem sings of entering the mountains oneself and losing the way of love, treating the topic from the opposite side.
Author: Fujiwara no Hideyoshi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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