Asagochi ni ide kosu nami no yosome ni mo awanu mono yue taki mo todoro ni

朝東風にゐで越す波の外目にも
逢はぬものゆゑ瀧もとどろに

Roma-ji: Asagochi ni ide kosu nami no yosome ni mo awanu mono yue taki mo todoro ni
English Translation: In the east wind of dawn
waves come spilling past the weir:
though not even from afar
have we met, yet all the talk
roars like rapids thundering
Meaning: Like the waves that spill over the weir in the morning east wind, though we have not met even at a distance, the rumors roar like thundering rapids.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2717

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Through waves driven over the weir by the morning east wind, the speaker laments that though they have never even glimpsed each other from afar, rumors rise as violently as roaring rapids. The injustice of gossip swelling when nothing has happened is conveyed through the fury of the water's sound.
The poem expresses feelings through waves spilling over a weir and through rapids. How the preface in the upper verse connects to "yosome" is debated. Ending abruptly with "todoro ni" leaves the clamor of rumor as a lingering echo. This poem, in which rumor roars, forms a pair with the next poem, which vows never to let love be voiced like the sound of water.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not been handed down.

First line, "asagochi ni": "in the morning east wind."
Second line, "ide kosu nami no": "of the waves spilling over the weir." The lines up to here are thought to form a preface leading to "yosome" in the third line, though how they connect is debated.
Third line, "yosome ni mo": "not even at a distance," meaning they have not even caught sight of each other from afar. "Mo" means "even."
Fourth line, "awanu mono yue": "though we have not met." "Mono yue" expresses contrast.
Fifth line, "taki mo todoro ni": "as the rapids roar," expressing rumors rising violently. Breaking off with "todoro ni," the poem omits what follows and leaves a lingering resonance.
Source: Manyoshu
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