Mizu mo arazu mi mo senu hito no koishiku wa ayanaku kyō ya nagamekurasamu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

見ずもあらず見もせぬ人の恋しくは
あやなく今日やながめ暮らさむ

Roma-ji: Mizu mo arazu mi mo senu hito no koishiku wa ayanaku kyō ya nagamekurasamu
English Translation: Not unseen by me
yet not truly seen, the one
I have come to love
must I then, for no good reason
spend all this day lost in thought
Meaning: Because I long for one whom I neither failed to see nor truly saw, must I, for no reason at all, spend this whole day gazing lost in thought?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 476

Headnote: "On the day of the mounted archery at the Right Palace Guards' riding ground, a woman's face was faintly visible through the lower blind of a carriage standing opposite, so he composed this and sent it to her"
This poem was sent to a woman glimpsed faintly through the blind of an ox-carriage opposite, on the day of mounted archery at the riding ground of the Right Palace Guards. The confusion of being captivated by someone only half-seen, neither seen nor unseen, is conveyed through the doubled negatives "not unseen" and "not truly seen." This exchange also appears in section 99 of The Tales of Ise and is known as a classic example of love that begins with a stolen glimpse.
The poet, Ariwara no Narihira, was a son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei. He served as Provisional Middle Captain of the Right Palace Guards and was called Zaigo Chujo. He is one of the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, and he is regarded as the model for the hero of The Tales of Ise. The title ason in the original is an honorific attached to nobles of the fifth rank and above.

First line, "Not unseen by me": mizu mo arazu means "it is not that I did not see." This poem and the next, 477, form an exchange, and the reply takes up the word ayanaku from this poem.
Second line, "yet not truly seen, the one": mi mo senu hito means one not clearly seen; layered with the first line's negative, it expresses the uncertainty of a glimpse.
Third line, "I have come to love": koishiku wa means "because I long for."
Fourth line, "must I then, for no good reason": ayanaku means without reason or sense. The particle ya is interrogative and forms a kakari-musubi with mu at the end.
Fifth line, "spend all this day lost in thought": nagamekurasamu means spending the day absorbed in brooding. Nagamu is to gaze vacantly, lost in thought.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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