Kawa no se ni nabiku tamamo no migakurete hito ni shirarenu koi mo suru kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

川の瀬になびく玉藻の水隠れて
人に知られぬ恋もするかな

Roma-ji: Kawa no se ni nabiku tamamo no migakurete hito ni shirarenu koi mo suru kana
English Translation: Like the jewel-weed
that sways in the river shallows
hidden underwater,
unknown to anyone at all
is the love that I now feel.
Meaning: Like the lovely water weeds that sway in the river rapids, hidden beneath the surface, I am in a love that no one knows about.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 565

Headnote: "A poem from the poetry contest held at the residence of the Empress in the Kanpyō era"
The poet says that, just as water weeds swaying in the current of a river shallows are hidden beneath the water, he is in a love unknown to others. The upper verse's scene serves as a preface, and the weeds swaying endlessly beneath the surface are overlaid with a love that cannot be shown and stirs at the bottom of the heart. It was composed for the Kanpyō-era Empress's poetry contest and is placed within the run of poems from that contest.
Ki no Tomonori was a poet of the early Heian period, the son of Ki no Aritomo and a cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki. He served as Senior Private Secretary and was appointed one of the compilers of the Kokinshū, but died before its completion. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "kawa no se ni": se is a shallow, swift-flowing part of a river.
Second line, "nabiku tamamo no": tamamo is a lovely name for water weeds. Weeds swaying with the current also suggest a heart inclining toward the beloved.
Third line, "migakurete": migakuru means to be hidden underwater. Here the scene from the first line leads into "hito ni shirarenu" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "hito ni shirarenu": re is the conditional of the passive auxiliary ru, and nu is the attributive negative, a love not known to others. Like "shiru hito no naki" in 560 of this book, it sings of the loneliness of a hidden love.
Fifth line, "koi mo suru kana": the same final line as 561 of this book, as the same poet closes in the same pattern with a different image.
Author: Ki no Tomonori
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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