Ujigawa no minawa sakamaki yuku mizu no koto kaerazu zo omoisometeshi

宇治川の水泡さかまき行く水の
事かへらずぞ思ひ染めてし

Roma-ji: Ujigawa no minawa sakamaki yuku mizu no koto kaerazu zo omoisometeshi
English Translation: Like the water churned,
foam on the Uji River
swirling as it flows,
never to return again,
so I have begun to love
Meaning: Like the water of the Uji River that flows on, its foam swirling and churning, never to turn back, so I have begun to love.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2430

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Just as the swift Uji River rushes downstream with its foam churning and never comes back, so a love once begun can no longer be undone: such is the theme of this poem. The force of water flowing away is laid over the beginning of a love that cannot be stopped.
It is one of the poems on the Uji River continuing from those before it, and like poem 2428, which sang of the swift rapids at the ford, it entrusts love to the violence of the Uji current. The first three lines form a preface, using the nature of flowing water to lead to "never returning."
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ujigawa no": the river that flows through Uji in Yamashiro. Known for its swift current, it is taken up again after the preceding poems.
Second line, "minawa sakamaki": "its foam swirling," giving visible shape to the violence of the water.
Third line, "yuku mizu no": "like the flowing water." The lines up to here form a preface that leads to "never returning" through water that flows away and does not come back.
Fourth line, "koto kaerazu zo": "the matter will not return," meaning there is no turning back. The particle "zo" adds emphasis and forms a concord with the last line.
Fifth line, "omoisometeshi": "I have begun to love." The attributive form "shi" of the past auxiliary "ki" answers the "zo" of the fourth line.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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