Hitoma mori ashikakigoshi ni wagimoko o aimishi kara ni koto zo sada ōki

人間守り葦垣越しに我妹子を
相見しからに言ぞさだ多き

Roma-ji: Hitoma mori ashikakigoshi ni wagimoko o aimishi kara ni koto zo sada ōki
English Translation: Watching for a gap
in the eyes, across reed fences
I met my dear girl,
only that and nothing more,
and how thick the rumors fly
Meaning: Watching for a moment when no one was looking, I met my beloved across a reed fence, only that, and yet how the rumors fly.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2576

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Having watched for a moment free of watching eyes, the man only exchanged glances with his beloved across a reed fence, yet he laments that rumors are already loud. It shows the constraints of love in a small community, where even the briefest meeting is quickly on everyone's lips.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." Poem 2565 of this book also speaks of "the girl I saw just once across the reed fence"; this poem takes the same motif of seeing the beloved across a reed fence and treats it from the side of the gossip it immediately stirs up.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "hitoma mori": "watching for a time free of people." It shows the care taken to meet out of sight.
Second line, "ashikakigoshi ni": "across the reed fence." It describes meeting briefly with a fence between them, using the same words as poem 2565 of this book.
Third line, "wagimoko o": "my dear girl." It is a word men used to address a beloved with affection.
Fourth line, "aimishi kara ni": "merely because we met." "Kara ni" means "for no more than this."
Fifth line, "koto zo sada ōki": "the talk is thick." This is the usual interpretation, though the meaning of "sada" is disputed. The adjective closes in the attributive form "ōki" in agreement with the particle "zo."
Source: Manyoshu
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