Azusayumi hikino no tsuzura sue tsui ni waga omou hito ni koto no shigekemu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

梓弓ひきののつづら末つひに
我が思ふ人に言の繁けむ

Roma-ji: Azusayumi hikino no tsuzura sue tsui ni waga omou hito ni koto no shigekemu
English Translation: Like the catalpa bow
drawn at Hikino, the vines
reach out to their end:
at last about the one I love
the talk will surely grow thick.
Meaning: As the vines on Hikino, where catalpa bows are drawn, reach ever onward, so in the end will gossip grow thick about the one I love.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 702

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Just as the vines on Hikino stretch ever onward, the speaker fears that in time the world's gossip about the lovers will grow thick. The author is given in the original as "anonymous," but one account names "the Heavenly Sovereign," and a left note records someone as saying that "the Heavenly Sovereign bestowed it on a palace attendant from Ōmi."
The "Heavenly Sovereign" of the left note is taken to be Emperor Tenji, and the poem is read as showing concern that his love for an attendant serving the court would become the talk of others. The next poem, 703, is said to be her reply, and the two form an exchange.
Against the preceding poem's bond that not even the thunder god could break, human talk appears here as the threat to the lovers, and poems on gossip continue with "koto shigeku tomo" in 703 and "satobito no koto wa" in 704.

The first line, "azusayumi," is a bow made of catalpa wood and, from the drawing ("hiku") of a bow, serves as a pillow word for "Hikino" in the second line.
In the second line, "hikino no tsuzura," "hikino" is a pivot word joining the place name Hikino and "hiki" (drawing a bow), and "tsuzura" is a vine.
The third line, "sue tsui ni," overlays the vine's tips stretching onward with "in the end, at last"; up to here the lines form a comparison.
The fourth line, "waga omou hito ni," means "about the one I love."
The final line, "koto no shigekemu," means "the talk will grow thick," overlaying the thickening vines with thickening gossip and closing with the conjectural "mu."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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