Sokoi naki fuchi ya wa sawagu yamakawa no asaki se ni koso adanami wa tate - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

底ひなき淵やは騒ぐ山川の
浅き瀬にこそあだ波は立て

Roma-ji: Sokoi naki fuchi ya wa sawagu yamakawa no asaki se ni koso adanami wa tate
English Translation: Does a pool that knows
no bottom ever stir and roar?
In a mountain stream
it's in the shallow rapids
that the idle waves arise.
Meaning: Does a bottomless pool ever churn? It is in the shallow rapids of a mountain stream that the restless waves rise.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 722

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Just as a deep pool does not ripple while noisy waves rise in the shallows, the poem says, one whose love is deep does not make a fuss, while the shallow-hearted are the ones who clamor. It shows the depth of the speaker's own love through the image of a still, deep pool.
Following the two preceding poems on a river's stillness and flow, it contrasts the depth and shallowness of the heart through pools and shallows. It also resonates with "fuchi wa se ni naru" in 687 of this book in setting pools beside shallows.
The author, "Sosei Hōshi," is Sosei. A son of Archbishop Henjō, he bore the lay name Yoshimine no Harutoshi and after taking vows lived at Urin'in and at Ryōin'in in Isonokami. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "sokoi naki," means "bottomless," standing for a deep love.
The second line, "fuchi ya wa sawagu," means "does a pool stir? It does not," using the rhetorical "ya wa"; the poem pauses here.
The third line, "yamakawa no," is a mountain stream, presented as swift and full of shallows.
The fourth line, "asaki se ni koso," means "it is in the shallows," with the particle "koso" forming a kakari-musubi with "tate" in the last line, standing for a shallow heart.
The final line, "adanami wa tate," means "there the idle waves rise," closing with "tate," the perfective form of "tatsu," in answer to "koso."
Author: Sosei
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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