浅からぬ心ぞ見ゆる音羽川
堰き入れし水の流れならねど
堰き入れし水の流れならねど
- Roma-ji
-
Asakaranu kokoro zo miyuru Otowagawa sekiireshi mizu no nagare naranedo
- English Translation
-
A heart not shallow
is plain to see here, although
it is not the stream
of the Otowa River
channeled in to fill a pond.
- Meaning
- A heart that is anything but shallow shows itself here, though this is not the flowing water of the Otowa River channeled in.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1728
Headnote: "When Provisional Middle Counselor Michitoshi was compiling the Goshūishū, I said I wished to see even a part of it first; he replied that he would do so after consultation, and sent me a copy not yet fair-written; on seeing it, I sent this in return."
This is the second of the poems on waterfalls and flowing water, and also one connected with compiling an anthology. Though it is not the channeled water of the Otowa River, a heart that is anything but shallow can be seen. According to the headnote, when Fujiwara no Michitoshi was compiling the Goshūi Wakashū, she asked to see even a part of it; saying he would first consult, he sent a copy not yet written out fair, and she sent this poem back with it.
The author, "Suō no Naishi," was the daughter of Taira no Munenaka. A lady-in-waiting who served four emperors from Go-Reizei to Horikawa, she was called by this name because her father was Governor of Suō.
Fujiwara no Michitoshi was the compiler of the Goshūi Wakashū by command of Emperor Shirakawa.
The first line, "asakaranu," means "not shallow, deep." Drawing on the depth of water, it speaks of the depth of a heart.
The second line, "kokoro zo miyuru," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "miyuru." It speaks of the depth of Michitoshi's kindness in showing a copy not yet fair-written, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "Otowagawa," is a river in Yamashiro Province and a famous poetic place, set here as a name for flowing water.
The fourth line, "sekiireshi mizu no," means "water dammed and channeled in." It takes up the conceit of the preceding poem's waterfall channeled into the garden.
In the last line, "nagare naranedo," "do" is concessive. "Though it is not water channeled into a garden," it lays over the depth of the stream the depth of Michitoshi's heart, leaving a lingering resonance through inversion.
- Author
- Suo no Naishi
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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