Yamashiro no Izumi no kosuge naminami ni imo ga kokoro o wa ga omowanaku ni

山背の泉の小菅なみなみに
妹が心を我が思はなくに

Roma-ji: Yamashiro no Izumi no kosuge naminami ni imo ga kokoro o wa ga omowanaku ni
English Translation: In Yamashiro,
the little sedge of Izumi
grows row upon row;
yet not in an ordinary way
do I hold your heart in mind
Meaning: Like the little sedge of Izumi in Yamashiro, growing row upon row, it is not in any ordinary way that I think of my beloved's heart.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2471

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The speaker insists that it is not in any ordinary way that he thinks of his beloved's heart, pleading the seriousness of his love. From the "nami" of the sedge growing in rows at Izumi he calls up "naminami" (ordinary), stressing that his feeling is anything but commonplace.
This is one of the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things," and like the preceding poem it is set upon little sedge. Where the preceding poem spoke of a love that cannot be hidden, this one asserts a love of uncommon depth, using the same sedge as a preface but shifting the mood.
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, "Yamashiro no": the province of Yamashiro, in the south of present-day Kyoto Prefecture.
Second line, "Izumi no kosuge": the little sedge growing at Izumi in Yamashiro, around the Izumi River, now the Kizu River. The first two lines form a preface, leading from the sedge growing in rows, through the repeated sound "nami," to the following "naminami ni."
Third line, "naminami ni": "in an ordinary way, to a common degree." In the original script it is written with characters meaning "ordinary" and "wave."
Fourth line, "imo ga kokoro o": "my beloved's heart," showing how dearly the speaker regards her feelings.
Fifth line, "wa ga omowanaku ni": "though I do not think of it so." "Naku ni" is the nominalized form of the negative auxiliary "zu" followed by "ni," closing the poem with a note of deep feeling.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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