Katachi koso miyamagakure no kuchiki nare kokoro wa hana ni nasaba narinamu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かたちこそ深山隠れの朽ち木なれ
心は花になさばなりなむ

Roma-ji: Katachi koso miyamagakure no kuchiki nare kokoro wa hana ni nasaba narinamu
English Translation: My form, indeed,
is a rotting log hidden
deep in the mountains—
but my heart, should I will it,
could become a flower yet.
Meaning: My appearance may be that of a rotting log hidden deep in the mountains, but if I wished it, my heart could still become a flower.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 875

Headnote: "Composed when some women saw him and laughed"
Composed when women laughed at his appearance. His form may be as withered as a rotting log deep in the mountains, but his heart can still bloom like a flower, he replies, lightly brushing off their laughter while showing his spirit.
The author, "Kengei Hōshi," is the Priest Kengei, a monk of the early Heian period whose life is little known.

First line "katachi koso": koso forms a kakari-musubi with nare in the third line, conceding the point about appearance.
Second line "miyamagakure no" means hidden deep in the mountains, out of sight, suggesting a monk withdrawn from the world.
Third line "kuchiki nare" closes koso with the perfective nare and turns adversatively to the lower verses; the poem pauses here.
Fourth line "kokoro wa hana ni" sets heart against the "form" and flower against the "rotting log" of the upper verses.
Fifth line "nasaba narinamu" joins the conditional ba with namu, the emphatic nu plus conjectural mu: "if I tried, it would surely become one."
Author: Priest Kengei
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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