Miwatashi no Mimuro no yama no iwaosuge nemokoro ware wa katamoi zo suru

見わたしの三室の山の巌菅
ねもころ我れは片思ぞする

Roma-ji: Miwatashi no Mimuro no yama no iwaosuge nemokoro ware wa katamoi zo suru
English Translation: As far as I look,
there on the mountain Mimuro,
the rock-sedge rooted;
with a heart rooted as deep,
it is one-sided, my love
Meaning: Like the roots of the sedge on the rocks of Mount Mimuro, seen far across, with all my heart I go on loving you, though my love is one-sided.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2472

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Calling up "nemokoro" (wholeheartedly) from the roots of the sedge growing on the rocks of Mount Mimuro seen far off, the poem laments a love given with full devotion yet unrequited. The sedge rooted in the rocks of a sacred mountain mirrors a longing that is earnest but never reaches its object.
This is one of the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things," part of the continuing series set upon sedge. The next poem also uses "nemokoro," and the two correspond in leading from the root of the sedge into that word.
The original text carries a variant note: "one version reads 'mimoro no yama no iwakosuge.'" This version gives the second and third lines as "the little rock sedge of Mount Mimoro," but here the main text, "Mimuro no yama no iwaosuge," is followed.
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, "miwatashi no": "seen far across," pointing to a mountain gazed upon in the distance.
Second line, "Mimuro no yama no": a mountain where a god descends, thought to be Mount Miwa. "Mimuro" means a place where a deity is worshipped.
Third line, "iwaosuge": sedge growing on rocks. The first three lines form a preface, leading from the "ne" (root) of the sedge into the following "nemokoro," which shares that sound.
Fourth line, "nemokoro ware wa": "wholeheartedly, I."
Fifth line, "katamoi zo suru": "I love one-sidedly." The emphatic particle "zo" is answered by the attributive form "suru," a kakari-musubi construction that firmly declares the unrequited longing.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Yamashiro no Izumi no kosuge naminami ni imo ga kokoro o wa ga omowanaku ni
Next Poem: Suga no ne no nemokoro kimi ga musubiteshi wa ga himo no o o toku hito mo nashi