Masokagami mi tomo iwame ya tamakagiru iwagakifuchi no komoritaru tsuma

まそ鏡見とも言はめや玉かぎる
岩垣淵の隠りたる妻

Roma-ji: Masokagami mi tomo iwame ya tamakagiru iwagakifuchi no komoritaru tsuma
English Translation: Like a polished mirror,
could I ever say I saw?
Gleaming like a jewel,
like a pool walled round by rocks,
you, my wife, are hidden deep
Meaning: Could I ever say that I have seen her? No, never: my wife, hidden away from all eyes like a pool enclosed by rocks.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2509

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Questions and Answers"
This poem answers: how could I tell anyone that I saw you at court, when you are my wife, hiding from people's eyes like a pool enclosed by walls of rock? It carries the resolve to guard a secret love and tenderness for a wife kept in hiding.
It replies to the preceding poem's "you, whom I met," and the left note "the two poems above" makes them a pair. Where the preceding poem voices surprise at the chance meeting in the palace, this poem vows never to speak of having seen her, revealing that their love is one that must be hidden from others.
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, "masokagami": a pillow word attached to "see." "Masokagami" is a clear, well-polished mirror, and since a mirror is something one looks into, it leads to "mi."
Second line, "mi tomo iwame ya": "could I say I saw? No." "Me" is the realis form of the auxiliary "mu," and with "ya" it forms a rhetorical question. The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "tamakagiru": a pillow word attached to "iwagakifuchi." From the faint gleam of a jewel, it is thought to lead to the dim depths of a pool.
Fourth line, "iwagakifuchi no": "a pool walled about by rocks." The particle "no" means "like," and the depth of the pool calls up the following "hidden."
Fifth line, "komoritaru tsuma": "my wife, who is hidden away." Ending on a noun, the poem leaves a strong impression of tenderness for the concealed wife.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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