Tsu no kuni no Naniwa no ashi no me mo haru ni shigeki waga koi hito shirurame ya - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

津の国の難波の葦のめもはるに
繁きわが恋人知るらめや

Roma-ji: Tsu no kuni no Naniwa no ashi no me mo haru ni shigeki waga koi hito shirurame ya
English Translation: In the land of Tsu,
the reeds at Naniwa bud forth,
far as eyes can see;
this love of mine grows as thick;
does she know of it at all?
Meaning: Like the reeds of Naniwa in the land of Tsu, budding and spreading as far as the eye can see, my love grows thick and dense; does she know of it at all?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 604

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that, like the reeds of Naniwa in the land of Tsu that bud and grow thick everywhere, his love has grown dense as far as the eye can see, and he wonders whether the beloved knows of it. The upper verse's scene of reeds at Naniwa serves as a preface, and me mo haru carries both "buds swelling" and "as far as the eye can see," expressing the abundance and spread of his love. From here on in this book, three poems by Tsurayuki follow.
Ki no Tsurayuki was a poet of the early Heian period, the son of Ki no Mochiyuki. He was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū and wrote its Japanese preface. He served as Governor of Tosa and is also known as the author of the Tosa Diary. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "Tsu no kuni no": Tsu no kuni is Settsu Province.
Second line, "Naniwa no ashi no": Naniwa is a famous poetic place in Settsu, sung of as an inlet thick with reeds. From the first line through "me mo haru" in the third line forms a preface.
Third line, "me mo haru ni": me mo haru is a pun on the reeds' "buds swelling" and "far as the eye can see."
Fourth line, "shigeki waga koi": shigeshi overlays thick growth of plants and the abundance and intensity of love. Like "shigesa masaredo" in 560 of this book, it overlays love on the thickness of grass. The line ends on the noun "waga koi."
Fifth line, "hito shirurame ya": rame is the perfective form of the present conjectural ramu, and ya is rhetorical: "does she know? Surely not."
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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